Trump’s White House Projects Will Cost Nearly $1 Billion: Report

Helipad construction on the South Lawn of the White House (Sipa USA)
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Here's what else we were tracking while watching (on TV) the first total solar eclipse in Europe since 1999.

Trump's White House Construction Projects Will Cost Nearly $1 Billion or More: Report

The Trump administration is set to spend $927 million or more on construction projects on the White House grounds, with taxpayers on the hook for most of the expense, according to a report by The Washington Post. The projected cost is far higher than previously reported.

The Post's Jonathan O'Connell and Sarah Blaskey report that the administration has cobbled together the funding from agencies and private donors, rather than going to Congress to get the money. Citing confidential contracts and planning documents, they report that the projects are being routed through the Executive Residence, an office that maintains the president's private White House home - and is not subject to typical federal disclosure rules.

"Together, the records reveal in the greatest detail yet how the Trump administration has sidestepped Congress and shielded visibility into what would become the most expensive overhaul of the White House in more than 80 years," O'Connell and Blaskey write. "In the past, administrations planning major changes to the White House grounds have done so by submitting budget requests to Congress, receiving appropriations, and directing agencies to seek approvals and hire contractors, according to historians and budget records."

Trump has taken a far different approach as he launched a series of construction projects, from paving over the Rose Garden to a new helipad to tearing down the East Wing for a "modernization project" that notably includes a massive new ballroom and bunker complex.

Trump had promised that the cost of the ballroom would be covered entirely by private "patriot donors," but both the project and its projected cost have grown, climbing from about $200 million to $400 million. An earlier report by the Post's Blaskey and O'Connell said that a White House contractor had estimated the total construction cost at $600 million, with more than half coming from taxpayers.

The Post also notes that the Executive Residence maintenance account has been appropriated $2.5 million annually in recent years, but that the Trump administration has directed $875 million to that account since Trump took office, including $500 million from the Secret Service and White House Military Office and $305 million from private donations.

The White House reportedly did not answer questions from The Post about where the construction funding is coming from or the total cost of the work but defended the projects, arguing that the security enhancements involved are appropriate and necessary and the funding transfers are in keeping with congressional intent.

"President Trump continues to implement long-overdue and necessary renovations to beautify the People's House as we celebrate our great Nation's 250th anniversary of independence," White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement to the Post. "Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come."

A federal appeals court last week ordered a halt to above-ground work on the ballroom project but paused its order for 14 days to allow the administration to ask the Supreme Court to intervene. "Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help," the judges wrote in a 2-1 majority decision.

The Post team says that the contracts they reviewed "leave open the possibility that the work will not move forward as planned and that the money will not be spent."

Quote of the Day: Dead or Alive?

"The president feels very strongly, as do I, that there were people who were victims of a Department of Justice that was absolutely weaponized, and he feels very strongly that he would want to make them whole, as do I. But it will not be through the anti-weaponization fund, which, again, was never set up, and nothing has happened with it."

  • Attorney General Todd Blanche, at a news conference Wednesday, after being asked about the $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund that he and the Justice Department had agreed to at one point as part of a settlement of President Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

After Blanche was sworn in Monday as attorney general, Trump told reporters that the future of the fund would be up to Blanche, who had issued a document rescinding the fund as he sought to win the confirmation votes of two holdout Republican senators.

Blanche reiterated Wednesday that the fund, widely criticized as a slush fund that would benefit Trump's allies, is "dead."

"I keep on saying this over and over again, but I'm happy to say it one more time," he told reporters. "I have testified under oath that it's dead. I have testified in front of the House where I wasn't under oath, where I said it was dead. I have answered questions after my hearing, where I said that it was dead. I have rescinded the order that set up the weaponization fund, which means that it does not exist."

He then went on to say the words quoted in bold type above, which make clear that, even if the proposed settlement fund is dead, he and the president still have the power to pay out claims against the federal government, including potential claims that might be filed by rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

So while the "anti-weaponization" fund may really be dead, the issue appears to be very much alive.

Inflation Cooled Slightly in July, Easing Pressure on the Fed

The consumer price index rose just 0.1% from June to July, contributing to a slight decrease in the 12-month inflation rate from 3.5% to 3.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The core CPI rate, which ignores volatile food and fuel prices to provide a better sense of the underlying trend, rose 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.5% on an annual basis.

A decrease in the cost of energy helped keep topline inflation in check, as gasoline prices dropped 2.9%. The cost of food at home fell, too, down 0.1% from month to month, pulled lower in part by a 16.4% decline in the price of lettuce as consumers avoided an outbreak of cyclospora lurking in crunchy green leaves.

Lettuce aside, the results were roughly in line with expectations, and likely provide some breathing room for the Federal Reserve as officials mull interest rate hikes amid persistently above-target inflation. The relatively soft monthly inflation reading, combined with last week's anemic jobs data, suggests that the Fed could sit tight on rates at its next meeting in September.

"Even though there's going to be another release before the September meeting, I think there's already enough here to take that September hike off the table," said State Street economist Simona Mocuta, per The Wall Street Journal.

Inflation persists: Although the July numbers help allay fears that inflation is headed higher again, for average Americans, inflation is still a serious problem, with prices remaining elevated and price increases outstripping wage gains for the past four months.

"This is why people are dipping into their savings and/or turning to credit," Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long wrote on X. "Yes, consumption has looked pretty good lately. But can that continue? For middle-income and lower-income Americans, this is the key issue. There will likely be some belt-tightening ahead."

KPMG Chief Economist Diane Swonk said inflation just won't go away. "Sticky inflation is stuck ... hot & sticky," she wrote on X. "Like Chicago in August."

There could be more of that sticky inflation in the pipeline. Gasoline prices climbed above $4 a gallon on average this week, driven higher by the ongoing war against Iran. Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said Wednesday that gas prices have risen above $4 for the third time this year, a new record, while prices have never been this high so late in the year. "[T]he national average has never been above $4/gal after Aug. 12 in any previous year - ever," he wrote on X.

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