On Dec. 21, 2024, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat, claimed on MSNBC that President-elect Donald Trump wanted Congress to spend $90 million on his inauguration. Crockett said the money was included in a proposed spending bill that also eliminated funding for children’s cancer research.
Here’s what Crockett told host Ali Velshi, per a video on MSNBC’s website (starting at the 4:30 mark):
At the end of the day, Ali, one of the things that Elon Musk and Vivek [Ramaswamy] and Trump didn’t talk about is the fact there was $90 million on basically Page 1 of the legislation that is for his inauguration party. The idea that we would say it’s OK for you to get $90 million for one day and then cut out $190 million for children when it comes to cancer research was absolutely mind-blowing.
Based on Crockett’s claim, the progressive news outlet AlterNet posted a story with the headline “AlterNet’s parent site, Raw Story, reposted the story with a headline clarifying that the claim came from a lawmaker. Users on Facebook (archived), X (archived) and LinkedIn (archived) shared the claim, and Snopes readers also searched for information about it.
Crockett’s claim about Congress spending $90 million on Trump’s inauguration was a mixture of truth and falsehoods. Congress provided $90 million for emergency planning and security costs in the District of Columbia through March 14, 2025, with about $50 million going to planning and security costs for
The spending bill Crocket referred to is H.R. 10545, or the American Relief Act. It’s the bipartisan stopgap legislation U.S. President Joe Biden signed Dec. 21, 2024, to keep the government running through March 14, 2025, after Republicans reportedly scrapped a previous bipartisan deal amid objections from Trump and Musk.
Here’s what the bill says about funding for Washington, D.C. (emphasis ours):
“Sec. 126. Notwithstanding section 101, amounts are provided for ‘District of Columbia—Federal Payment for Emergency Planning and Security Costs in the District of Columbia’ at a rate for operations of $90,000,000, of which not less than $50,000,000 shall be for costs associated with the Presidential Inauguration to be held in January 2025: Provided, That such amounts may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to maintain emergency planning and security activities.”
According to the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Congress provides “Emergency Planning and Security Costs in the District of Columbia” payments annually. These payments — in this case, $90 million — are used for public safety “at events related to the presence of the Nation’s Capital in the District,” responding to terrorist threats or attacks and supporting requests from the United States Secret Service. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer confirmed that at least $50 million will go to Trump’s inauguration, per Congress’ allocation.
Inaugurations are very expensive. The Washington Post reported that Trump’s 2017 inauguration cost an estimated $175 million to $200 million. About $70 million came from private donations; taxpayers footed the rest of the bill. When adjusted for inflation, both Democrats and Republicans have spent similar amounts, the Post reported.
Snopes reached out to Trump’s presidential transition team to ask whether he requested more funding for his inauguration and will update the story if we hear back.
Snopes previously broke down the claim that Trump and Musk pushed Republicans to block $190 million in cancer research funding. We also looked into the claim that Trump is charging donors $100,000 to attend a church service with him the day before his inauguration.