Thursday, August 13, 2026

ANNALS OF TRUMPI$TAN: Trump administration set to spend at least $900 million on White House construction. (Jonathan O'Connell & Sarah Blaskey, WaPo, August 12, 2026)

From The Washington Post:


EXCLUSIVE

Trump administration set to spend at least $900 million on White House construction

The price tag is much larger than what has been previously reported, according to a Post review of confidential contracts, and taxpayers would cover most of it.

9 min
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H ST. NW

Lafayette

Park

General Andrew

Jackson Statue

Fountain

Fountain

Eisenhower

Executive Office 

Building

PENNSYLVANIA AVE.

Treasury

Building

The White House

15TH ST. NW

17TH ST. NW

Rose

Garden

Helipad

East Wing

ballroom

Underground

portion

First Infantry 

Division 

Monument

The President's

Park

Planned 

visitor 

screening 

facility 

Sherman

Park

E ST. NW

The Ellipse

AARON STECKELBERG/THE WASHINGTON POST

By 
 and 

The Trump administration plans to spend at least $900 million for construction projects on the White House grounds, a significantly larger price tag than has been previously reported and one that would be covered primarily by taxpayers, according to records reviewed by The Washington Post. 

Instead of securing money directly from Congress, the records show, the administration has pieced together funding from other agencies and private donors and directed it to a little-known account that typically holds a few million dollars for routine maintenance of the executive mansion.

Confidential contracts and related planning documents indicate that the administration plans to use money in that account for White House “modernization projects” — the administration’s term for President Donald Trump’s planned overhaul of the property, at the center of which is a gilded East Wing ballroom.

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.

A federal appeals court struck a blow to Trump’s plans on Friday, ruling that the administration needed congressional approval to continue building the East Wing ballroom. Trump vowed to appeal the ruling, which applied only to the ballroom, setting up a Supreme Court battle over the limits of his authority to remake the White House. 

“Congress has exclusive authority to regulate the construction and demolition of White House structures,” Judges Patricia A. Millett and Bradley N. Garcia wrote in the accompanying opinion.

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.

The Trump administration has not disclosed the total cost of all planned White House construction or shared details about the sources or original intended purposes of most of the money it has assembled. Trump has repeatedly said that the East Wing ballroom project would be covered by private donations.

The Post previously reported that the projected cost of the East Wing construction alone was $600 million, with half coming from taxpayers. The confidential contracting documents include the costs of upgrades to nearby Lafayette Square, construction of a helipad, a new visitor screening center and other previously reported projects that would drive the total cost of work on the grounds to at least $927 million. 

The contracts reviewed by The Post leave open the possibility that the work will not move forward as planned and that the money will not be spent. As of the end of June, administration officials had issued orders for over $100 million of work to be paid from the White House maintenance account, budget office records show.

The White House did not answer questions from The Post about the source of all the funding or the total cost of the planned work, but said the money is being spent in a “manner consistent with” Congress’s original 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. “Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come.”

The contracts and money for the work are being routed through the Executive Residence, a White House office with fewer than 100 employees that maintains the president’s private home. The office is not subject to rules that require most federal agencies to disclose government records, rendering the contracts confidential.

The Executive Residence, which employs housekeepers, curators, calligraphers and carpenters, has not previously managed major construction efforts, experts said. In recent years, Congress has appropriated $2.5 million annually to its maintenance account, known as “White House Repair and Restoration.” 

Since Trump took office, the administration has directed $875 million to that account, public budget records show. 

“That is incredibly unusual,” said Cerin Lindgrensavage, counsel for Protect Democracy, an advocacy group that is suing the Trump administration for allegedly withholding public information about federal spending. 

To assemble funding in that account, the White House budget office authorized a series of transfers from the U.S. Secret Service and the White House Military Office totaling $500 million, planning and budget documents indicate, while an additional $305 million came from private donations. The documents reviewed by The Post show another $70 million directed to that account but do not identify the source. 

Most of the $415 million in Secret Service funding was directed to the account in June after Trump allies on Capitol Hill were unable to pass legislation that would have allocated $400 million toward the East Wing and the visitor screening facility. 

That Secret Service funding was appropriated by Congress in part to recruit and train Secret Service agents, The Post previously reported, raising concerns from members of both parties on Capitol Hill that the administration was improperly using funds.

After his confirmation hearing in June, Hal Duncan, Trump’s pick to be deputy budget officer, wrote in response to questions from Sen. Gary Peters (D-Michigan) that using the money for White House construction was consistent with the Secret Service’s mission because the project “includes security enhancements related to the East Wing Modernization Project, to include structural hardening.”

Ingle, the White House spokesman, told The Post that the ballroom itself would be paid for by $400 million in private donations and that it was appropriate for the Secret Service and the White House Military Office to be involved in providing security infrastructure on the campus. 

“Recent events such as the foiled attack on the historic UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House proves exactly why the East Wing Modernization Project is severely needed for large scale events, which include drone proof structures and drone ports among other critical security enhancements,” Ingle said. 

A Secret Service spokesman referred questions to the White House.

The Constitution reserves for Congress the power to decide how tax dollars should be spent. The White House budget office is permitted to move funds from one account to another, for purposes that are consistent with the original appropriation, but experts said the extent to which the Trump administration has relied on such transfers is unusual.

“If the executive can do anything they want with appropriated funds, then the executive can do anything they want, period,” said Joe Carlile, who served as an associate director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Biden administration and now runs a firm that analyzes federal appropriations data.

In scope, Trump’s plans rival those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who oversaw the completion of the East Wing in 1942. Trump’s vision dwarfs all White House construction projects since, according to Ed Lengel, former chief historian for the White House Historical Association. 

Roosevelt’s successor, Harry S. Truman, carried out what Lengel said was the most extensive overhaul of the private residence of the White House, where the president and his family live. At Truman’s request, Congress approved around $80 million in today’s dollars to refurbish and bolster the structure, which had fallen into disrepair, and established a six-person commission to oversee the work.

To fund the most recent major White House construction project, in 2009 the Obama administration requested $376 million over multiple years for electrical upgrades and structural repairs to the East and West wings. Congress appropriated money over the next several years to fund the work, and it was largely managed by the General Services Administration, which typically oversees government real estate projects. 

The federal lawsuit now headed to the Supreme Court alleges that the Trump administration illegally circumvented Congress when it demolished the East Wing in December. In response, government lawyers argued that the president is permitted by law to spend funds on “the care, maintenance, repair, alteration, refurnishing, improvement” of the executive mansion. 

The D.C. Circuit court disagreed, upholding a lower court’s decision.

“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.

Jake Spring and Riley Beggin contributed to this report. 







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Ed Slavin response to Sierra Club on Anastasia Mosquito Control of St. Johns County Commission (2024)

Here's my response to the March 2024 Sierra Club questionnaire re: Mosquito  Control Commission;


Good evening:
Thank you for your patience!  Excellent questions. 


Questionnaire to Candidates for St. Johns County 
County Commission 2024

Please provide answers to the following questions below, or on a separate sheet:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the least important and 10 being the most important), where do
environmental issues rate when compared to other critical issues facing St. Johns County and
Northeast Florida? Please include a brief explanation of your rating.

Most important: 10.  Our frail planet, our city, county, state and nation are all threatened by pollution and climate change. Overdevelopment is destroying our quality of life.

2. What are the most significant environmental issues and challenges in St. Johns County? 

* Proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore deserves our County's support.  First proposed by the Mayor of St. Augustine, Walter Fraser, both U.S. Senators and our Congressman in 1939, this is an idea whose time has come.  https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2023/10/support-st-augustine-national.html
* Developers demanding to be free of fair impact fees.  

* Secretive PACs and campaign contributions, corruption and conflict of interest. Corruption, as Al Gore wrote in 1992, in Earth in the Balance, often leads to environmental devastation.  

* Proposed 25 ideas for local government reform in 2022, one (1) heeded (County Sheriff body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras, long opposed by Sheriff David Shoar). County Commission has STILL not responded to 25 suggestions on government reform. Why not?




+ Support meritocracy amidst one-party rule by mediocrities in St. Johns County Commission





3. What actions have you taken in the past to demonstrate your concern or interest regarding our environment?
 

  2. Helping end pelagic whaling of endangered sperm whales by promoting development of jojoba oil seed crops, an exact duplicate for the oil of the sperm whale. The market system worked. (Working as intern and staffer for Senator Ted Kennedy, 1974-76).  
  3. Helping defeat coal slurry pipeline eminent domain legislation in U.S House of Representatives, helping preserve and protect precious scarce water from Madison Formation aquifer.  (11,500 word Crossroads Magazine (formerly Coal Patrol) investigative article, inserted into Congressional Record by U.S. Rep. Joe Skubitz, Republican of Kansas, except for parts on campaign finance).  July 19, 1978: House Defeated Coal Slurry Pipeline Eminent Domain Legislation



  4. Exposing U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority purchasing and policies that encouraged steep slope strip-mining, corruption, coal quality fraud, antitrust violations and and conflicts of interest. With support from Fund for Investigative Journalism, helped secure GAO investigation verifying  concerns of Appalachian activists, led by Save Our Cumberland Mountains.  TVA's Coal Procurement Practices--More Effective Management Needed



  5. Winning declassification of world's largest mercury pollution event (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) and testifying about it in Congressional investigation.  July 11, 1983: Al Gore's Mercury Pollution Hearing in Oak Ridge, Tennessee -- Largest Mercury Pollution Event in World History (4.2 Million Pounds). 



  6. Security clearance reforms protecting environmental, nuclear anjd other whistleblowers, and LGBTQ, people working for federal agencies and government contractors.  Helped win American Bar Association House of Delegates vote in February 1990, endorsing security clearance reforms that were implemented under President Clinton, halting a proposed Bush Executive Order that would have erased rights to fair hearings and due process.
  7. Environmental whistleblower law victories and precedents at U.S.Department of Labor, including landmark whistleblower case protecting federal environmental crimes investigators against retaliation for recusals or refusing to coverup wrongdoing.  FBI, HUD, EPA Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Ret.), R.I.P.



  8. Exposed intimidation of nuclear weapons plant whistleblowers. February 5, 1992



  9. Questioned aerial pesticide spraying program and winning reversal of illegal, no-bid SJC Mosquito Control Board purchase of $1.8 million luxury Bell Jet helicopter unadorned by nozzles, tanks, pilots, hangar or any plans for aerial spraying, winning 100% refund of deposit.
  10. Defeat of multiple unwise development projects in St. Augustine and St. Johns County,
  11. Adoption of employee whistleblower policy and sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. 
  12. Successfully reported City of St. Augustine illegally dumping a landfill in a lake to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree, after City Manager William B. Harriss had said he would not agree to put the contaminated solid waste in a Class I landfill without a court order.  2008 Folio Weekly cover story by Anne Schindler called me an "environmental hero."
  13. Reported City of St. Augustine illegal sewage pollution to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree.
  14. Helped elect Nancy Shaver as in St. Augustine Mayor and Krista Keating-Joseph as County Commissioner, defeating pro-developer incumbents. 
  15. Helping secure preservation of historic iconic Fish Island as city park with state funds, rejecting proposed ruinous development by D.R. Horton, with fifty (50) witnesses, including former St. Augustine Beach Mayor Sherman Gary Snodgrass.




4. What organizations do you belong to? 

1000 Friends of Florida
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Democratic Party
St. Augustine Historical Society
Fort Mose Historic Society
Florida Historical Society
Sierra Club
Investigative Reporters and Editors  
American Assn. For Advancement of Science  
Florida Adventures in Railroading
WJCT

5. What is your position and suggested solution on these key issues affecting our county?   
- Climate change and sea level rise
+ Support federal, state and local legislation to preserve and protect us from carbon and methane pollution, protect our coasts and wetlands, promote biodiversity, restore balance,
+ Support County's acceptance of federal grants on climate change. 
+ Oppose Florida Governors' attacks on environmental protection, with frequent blog posts.
www,cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
+ Support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. Spoke to every St. Johns County Legislative Delegation meeting since 2006 on National Park and Seashore.


- Growth management and development
+ Strongly support reform of our Land Development Code as we know it.  
+ We must have fair hearings, with full disclosures, lobbyist registration, expert testimony, cross-examination of all witnesses and background investigations of developers.  
+ Are our current local and state procedures are a honky-tonk medley of "regulatory capture," farce and kabuki dance?
+ James Madison wrote, "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. "
+ Affordable housing: we must reject "snob zoning," and allow duplexes and other auziliary dwellling units, preserving land and advancing affordable housing. 
+ We must adopt a Public Housing Agency.
+ We must comply with Fair Housing Act.
+ Let's start by re-writing our LDC and quasi-judicial hearing procedures.
+ For transparency, Commissioners must never meet with zoning applicants ex parte.  
+ St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver refused such meetings during her 1550 days as Mayor (making an exception when an applicant was allegedly being treated unfairly).
+ What kind of administrative judicial system lets zoning applicants meet secretly with elected officials?
+  Reject this corrupt system and will not be embroiled by it. 
+ We must require fuller corporate disclosure and better data. 
+ Require background investigations on zoning applicants -- know your customer! 
+ Are any zoning applicants involved in money-laundering,  
+ Environmental violations by zoning applicants must be researched by County staff and discussed publly in hearings.
+ We need full information on ex parte contacts with Commissioners, disclosed before hearings.
+ All ex parte meetings with Commissioners and staff must be videotaped and made a public record.  
+ As Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Secrey is for losers, for people who don't understand the value of the information.


- Trees and the proposed 14 point tree ordinance
+ Support proposed tree protection ordinance and spoke in favor of it, as did dozens of residents.  
+ I objected to four Commissioners' harsh response to First Amendment protected activity, evident retaliation against reform Commissioner Krista Joseph..

- Management of traffic and infrastructure
+ Support transit, impact fees and reform of zoning and planning as we know it.

- Septic tanks
+ Explore ban on new septic tanks in new construction
+ Monitor septic tank inspections and code enforcement.




6. What is your motivation for running to be a County Commissioner?
+ My first American ancestor escaped the British government-caused Irish potato famine in 1849, immigrating to Philadelphia with Irish neighbors at age six, the rest of her family died in famine.  My father taught me, as JFK's father taught him, that "if you don't stand up to people in power, they walk all over you."   JFK was killed 22 days after I proudly wore a JFK costume on Halloween, at age six. At age 17.5, I went to work for his brother, Sen. Ted Kennedy, the day before my first Georgetown class, inspired after hearing Ralph Nader speak on August 28, 1974 (Feast of St. Augustine).   
Love this magical place. We need to preserve what we know and love, with National Park Service help.  http://www.staugustgreen.com 
Moved here November 5, 1999, after falling in love with St. Augustine when we visited in August 1992, right after first environmental whistleblower trial against Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  
Faster than a speeding dump truck, what we love about St. Johns County is being destroyed. 



7. If you are elected or re-elected, what initiatives would you introduce or promote to protect the environment of St. Johns County?
* St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore
* Environmental Regulatory Commission.
* Independent environmental impact statements for government project, as under NEPA.
* Lobbyist registration and background investigations.
* Video of every County Commissioner "ex parte' meeting with putative "developers."
* County whistleblower protection ordinance
* Reform zoning and planning as we know it. 

Thank you. 
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998


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