President Donald Trump looked at the marble surfaces and the high price of the Federal Reserve headquarters Reasons of entitlement Chairman Jerome Powell, with whom he fought for years. But the extensive use of marble in the building is at least partially the result of guidelines that Trump supports itself.
When the FED was moved by the plans to renovate its headquarters of depression in Washington during the first term in Trump, it arose during a review process with Trumpern names in 2020 that demanded more “white Georgia marble” for the facade of the building.
The Fed architects said the central bank wanted to reflect glass walls in order to reflect the Fed as a transparent institution, but three Trumpern racing of a local commission believed that marble was best suited to the historical character of the building. While most of the proposed glass was kept, a marble was added to the Federal Government in architecture after the Protocol of the Commission for Fine Arts.
The marble does not explain the cost of around 600 million US dollars for the project that now cost 2.5 billion US dollars, including the addition of a low point and the new Glasattria in the inner courtyards of the building. But the roots of their extensive uses use the tests of the White House to use the renovation in order to remove the central banker as a possible donor as a possible pretext to remove it.
“I would not be surprised if the result costs more due to the additional marble,” said Alex Krieger, emeritus professor of Harvard University, who was a member of the Commission and took part in the Fed’s proposal.
Russian, Trump’s top household consultant, quoted “Premium Marble” In a letter At Powell last week as an example of the “magnificent overhaul”.
In an answer In late Thursday, Powell wrote that the project would “use new domestic marble” for several reasons, including “concerns that are triggered by external review agencies”.
The National Capital Planning Commission, which also checked and approved the FED renovation project, started an investigation of how Powell has supervised the updates.
“The extravagant renovation of the Federal Reserve multi-billion dollar occurred on the guard of the FED leadership, and the leadership of the FED must have for this mismanagement of taxpayers’ dollars and his botched deck job,” said the spokesman for the White House, Kush Desai. A FED spokesman rejected a statement.
There is an unpleasant possibility that the fate of the US Central Bank and its basic role in the economy depend on a dispute over renovation costs and architecture, which could lead a broader legal dispute over it described the institution As protection against an abrupt shot.
Trump White House examines renovation
Trump, who reorganized the Oval Office in gold leaf, has argued that inflation is not a problem so that the Fed can dramatically reduce its interest rate to promote more loans. But Powell and other members of the Fed Committee are I’m waiting to see if Trump’s tariffs Course inflation that could help higher interest rates.
The Fed chair pressed back against criticism during one June recruitment hearing That the renovation was triggered by removing some characteristics based on costs, which caused the White House to speculate whether Powell has deceived the legislator or made changes to the renovation plans without receiving additional permits. At this hearing, Senator Tim Scott, Rs.c., also cited “White Marble” as an example of extravagance.
James Blair, a deputy chief of staff of the White House, who was recently added to the planning commission, said on Wednesday that he would send a letter to the Fed in which the revision of the project is requested. His goal is to see whether Powell was correct in his congress status.
“He either says the truth or he is not,” said Blair of Associated Press. “If he says the truth, he can prove this by only submitting all plans and revisions.”
Blair informed the reporters on Friday that the Fed offered to inspect the construction site at 7 p.m. that evening, but the timing did not work and the officials would like to visit the area next week.
Trump said on Wednesday that he was “highly unlikely” to fire Powell unless there was what he thought as “fraud”.
The attempt to remove Powell as chair before his term of office from May 2026 could unleash a devastating financial setback, as the financial markets expect the Fed to stabilize prices with its mission and maximize employment. be free of politics in the White House.The perception that the central bank would use its powers to serve Trump’s political purposes could lead to higher interest rates for the US debt and mortgages instead of the declines promised by the President.
Trump arranges are pushing for more marble
The 115-year-old Commission for Fine Arts checked the plans for the renovation three times in 2020.
Duncan Stroik, who was appointed to the Commission in the first term of office in 2019, “proposed a change in which the next submission includes an alternative design in White Georgia Marble that has used the same material for the five existing buildings along the north side of the constitution Avenue”, the Marble, which was used for the five existing buildings “, the same material that was the same, the same material Material that is used, the same material that is used along the north side of the Avenue constitution “, the material material”, the same material that is used for the five existing buildings at the same time, the same materials that are used to the constitution “, the same materials that are used along the north side of the constitution Avenue”, which is used ” Minutes of a January 16, 2020said the meeting.
Stroik “does not believe that the proposed additions to the historic buildings are moved as large marble buildings on an important road,” added the minutes.
Stroik’s change was coordinated, but the commission did not complete the plans of the Fed. The architects presented new plans in May 2020, although these Trump representatives did not satisfy.
Some commissioners “continued to reject the addition of a GLA box that was reminiscent of a commercial office building and shone at night and represents an unacceptable contrast to the solid masonry architecture of the historical building in its monumental context,” wrote the commission in one May 2020 letter To a Fed official.
By July 2020, however, the Fed architects came back with a new proposal, which contained “Panels of White Georgia Marble”, which should be used for the “basis, cornice and other details that match the historical building” Minutes said.
Neoclassical against modern designs
Stroik, now a professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame, said in an interview that “stone buildings do not necessarily have to cost a fortune”. However, he admitted that the Commission had not discussed any expenditure, which was not part of her mission.
“If you wanted to play the cost game, make a marble lacade and you do the glass facade and compare the costs,” said Stroik. “And you know they never did it.”
Krieger, the former commission member, found that the discussions of the corporation became much more controversial after the Trump government removed several members and replaced them with Stroik and James McCrery, professor at the Catholic University, which he said about Design of Executive Order From Trump, which was based on classic architecture.
“At that time it was a violent fight on how literally the renovation work should be for the original design,” said Krieger. “Usually this setting increases the construction project.” McCrery rejected a statement.
Trump gave them out Executive order in December 2020which criticized modernist architecture and expressed a preference for “beautiful” classic buildings with more traditional designs. Biden revoked the order and Trump new The first day of his second term.
The Commission only fully approved the FED project in September 2021 after McCrery and another Trump representative, Justin Shubow, were removed by the then President Joe Biden.
