Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., stated on Monday that the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner demonstrates the need for a dedicated ballroom at the White House.
Fetterman noted during his remarks that Democratic colleagues are misguided in refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
“All this time that DHS has been shut down, these resources have been sidelined for no reason,” Fetterman said.
The Pennsylvania senator added that shutting down DHS will not yield the reforms at Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Democrats advocate for.
“Iran already has an established history of wanting to assassinate Trump,” Fetterman stated. “They would have had months to plan on that.”
“Honestly, I would say we got really lucky,” Fetterman explained. “Not because the president wasn’t hurt, but there were other people in that line who could have been harmed as well. You had Vice President JD Vance, you had Trump, you had Speaker Mike Johnson, and you had Secretary of State Marco Rubio — all these kinds of people closely present.”
Fetterman said his Democratic colleagues need to move beyond “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and focus on building the ballroom.
“As Democrats, we want to be the party of abundance,” Fetterman noted. “But we have a history of shutting things down or taking years to complete basic tasks.”
President Donald Trump will not even be in office by the time the proposed ballroom is completed.
“This isn’t really for him,” Fetterman added. “You could have more inclusive, frequent, and secure events with such a facility.”
Fetterman said he has attended White House events where people were in tents.
“That’s not how it works in the most powerful country in the world,” Fetterman remarked. “People trudging around in sod for state events?”
Fetterman reiterated that Americans were lucky no one was seriously hurt at the event.
“So why are we arguing about — is the ballroom too big? Is it this or that?” Fetterman asked.
“Let’s just do this,” he said. “And let’s have a little foresight because we are putting politicians, senators, and congressmen out there between now and November. Let’s use our head before we have to deal with ‘a lucky accident’ — one that didn’t happen the other night.”
