Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is criticizing a group of Trump administration construction, renovation and event projects that the Joint Economic Committee's Democratic minority estimates will cost more than $1.8 billion.
The committee's September report calls the spending “vanity projects” and puts the combined expected cost at $1,822,761,800. That is the minority's estimate and political characterization, not an independent audit finding or a statement that every listed expenditure has been completed.
In her response to the report, the New York senator urged the administration to redirect spending toward households facing grocery, fuel and health care costs.
“The president of the United States serves the people, not the other way around,” Gillibrand said.
Estimate combines nine projects and events
The report includes more than $927 million for White House renovations, including the ballroom, Lafayette Park fountains, Rose Garden, visitor center, helipad and bowling alley. It also lists $257 million for Kennedy Center renovations and $100 million for a proposed Triumphal Arch.
Other amounts are $16 million for rehabilitation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, $7.5 million to repaint the Old Executive Office Building and $5 million to gold-plate horse statues in the Washington area.
The remaining entries are $400 million for the initial retrofit of the Qatari Air Force One plane, $60 million for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House and $50 million for the East Potomac Park Golf Course.
The report describes its overall total as expected costs. Its introductory text separately describes the White House and reflecting-pool amounts as money spent. Those descriptions should not be read as proof that all nine projects are finished or that the full estimated total has already been paid.
Gillibrand's release says Trump pledged not to use taxpayer money for ballroom construction but used Secret Service funds for parts of it. That assertion is attributed to her office; the one-page report does not provide a detailed accounting of ballroom payments.
Calculator presents alternative uses, not approved spending
The committee created an interactive cost calculator to compare the estimated total with other possible uses. Those comparisons illustrate spending choices; they are not enacted appropriations or promises that redirecting the projects would automatically fund those services.
The report's graphic estimates the money could cover 607.6 million school lunches, hire 27,500 teachers or 29,600 firefighters, or pay a year's medical expenses for 88,200 veterans. It also gives comparisons of 12 million monthly electric bills and 35.9 million tanks of gas for a sedan.
Its education and child-care comparisons include 1.7 million months of child care, 117,300 additional Head Start slots, 20.2 million days of summer camp, annual school supplies for 10.5 million children and Pell Grants for 246,500 additional college students.
Other comparisons include a year's Medicaid coverage for 209,300 people, annual out-of-pocket Affordable Care Act marketplace premiums for 853,400 people and a year's SNAP food benefits for 429,500 families. The graphic frames those figures as coverage or benefits that could be restored after cuts it attributes to Trump and congressional Republicans.
It also compares the total with a month's groceries for 1.8 million families, filling 17.7 million potholes, building 4,000 houses and a month's rent for 935,700 people. The one-page document does not spell out the unit-price assumptions behind each comparison or provide a statistical margin of error.
Gillibrand points to proposed restrictions
Gillibrand introduced the Halting Unilateral Money and Building Labeling by Egotistical Presidents Act, or HUMBLE Presidents Act, in April. Her office says the proposal would prohibit using a sitting president's name, image, likeness or signature to decorate or designate federal property, assets or currency.
She has also argued that $1 billion sought by Republicans for the ballroom could support law enforcement instead, and has accused the administration and congressional Republicans of increasing average New York households' costs by more than $5,000. Her release does not establish that household figure through the project-cost report.
The committee's report and calculator present the minority's alternative spending comparisons. Gillibrand's statement urges a change in priorities but does not announce passage of her bill or cancellation of any listed project.
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