Overview
- The White House’s fiscal 2027 budget asks Congress to create a $10 billion Presidential Capital Stewardship Program for construction and beautification in Washington, D.C.
- The plan places the work inside the National Park Service, which manages about 90% of D.C. parkland, to run targeted projects on federal sites across the city.
- The same proposal cuts National Park Service operations nationwide by $736 million, a pairing conservation groups say would expand projects without funds to maintain them.
- The budget also seeks $605 million to sustain National Guard deployments in the city and $403 million for transit cameras, lighting, and cybersecurity to boost safety at Metro stations and Union Station.
- Critics warn the fund could bankroll vanity projects, pointing to a federal judge’s halt of construction on Trump’s $400 million East Wing ballroom as lawsuits over a proposed triumphal arch and other ideas continue.