I'd thought that too, but the law in question only bars the State department from spending its budget on a pavilion. Nothing blocks congress from appropriating

I'd thought that too, but the law in question only bars the State department from spending its budget on a pavilion. Nothing blocks congress from appropriating whatever it wants for that purpose. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/2452b https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/2452b As the documentary I linked in another comment points out, this has been misunderstood for so long, even people in the State department think it's an outright ban on use of any public funds.