Union racked up massive tab on swank DC hotel stay to battle Trump - and still lost

"Once again, we see union leaders spending lavishly at the expense of the members who fork over millions in union dues every year," Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, told Fox News Digital. "These limousine liberals chose to stay at top-tier hotels so they could fight a bill that is actively lowering costs for workers and families across the nation-including their own members. SEIU's leadership should put its money where its mouth is and focus on actually helping workers thrive."

The SEIU did not respond to a request for comment after being contacted by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

SEIU chapters posted images of its members in the hotel's event spaces and outside its rooms to social media in late June 2025, according to images collected by CUF and reviewed by Fox News Digital.  

CUF is a nonprofit interest group critical of organized labor. The SEIU, meanwhile, is a union representing roughly two million workers in healthcare, public service and other sectors.

"While it's slightly less central than some of the older hotels, there's an immediate payoff in the form of spectacular views - rooms overlook the Mall and the Washington Monument on one side, with the Basin and Jefferson Memorial on the other," the guide reads. "Facilities, of course, are first-class; the Salamander Spa is one of the main attractions, itself as large as some hotels we've seen, offering every therapy yet devised in a surprisingly chic environment."

Alongside spacious rooms and dramatic architecture, the Salamander Hotel has several luxury dining options, including a restaurant belonging to celebrity chef Kwame Onwuachi.