President Donald Trump is using the National Park Service as a conduit to funnel money to his favorite construction firms and using Interior Secretary Doug Burgum as his bagman, as the duo spends excessive taxpayer money on Trump’s vanity projects in D.C. while strangling the rest of the Park Service.
$17.4 million to restore two fountains at Lafayette Park that was projected to cost just $3.3 million in 2022. $13.1 million to paint the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American flag blue,” which Trump originally said would cost just $1.8 millon—both with no competitive bidding process, both in the president’s backyard (Washington D.C.), and both funneled through the National Park Service by Secretary Burgum. And this is just the start. The Trump administration is currently asking Congress for a massive $10 billion “slush fund” seemingly designed to finance Trump’s vanity projects in D.C., while seeking massive cuts to the Park Service’s general infrastructure and maintenance budgets.
The contrast between the administration’s treatment of the nation’s capital city and the rest of the country’s national parks is jarring. The president’s proposed 2027 budget asks for a staggering $757 million—or 26 percent—reduction in funding for the National Park System, which faces a $24 billion deferred maintenance backlog. Specifically, Trump and Burgum are also calling for a 44 percent reduction in the annual Park Service construction and major maintenance budget, leaving less than $50 million to address critical repairs at historic sites and parks nationwide. In a recent Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee hearing, Burgum attempted to defend these deep cuts by arguing that the government could simply perform more “efficiently” by using “better IT.”
Lawmakers and advocates are not buying it. Senator Patty Murray of Washington rightly called the proposed budget cuts for park facilities, operations, and maintenance a “recipe for disaster.” Since January 2025, the Park Service has already lost nearly 25 percent of its workforce—over 4,000 staff members—due to pressured resignations, early retirements, and hiring freezes pushed by Burgum.
Trump and Burgum appear at a press conference for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool; Source: screenshot, LiveNow from Fox, May 7, 2026
Meanwhile, Burgum is gladly serving as Trump’s mouthpiece in his effort to turn the nation’s capital into a Trump resort. Burgum stood by smiling on Fox News as Trump bragged about painting the bottom of the reflecting pool, and he defended Trump’s massive $10 billion funding request for a “Presidential Capital Stewardship Program,” to be administered by the Park Service, in his testimony to Congress. The president’s budget says these funds are earmarked for “targeted, priority construction and beautification projects in and around Washington, D.C.,” and Burgum has insisted that this exorbitant sum is solely intended for deferred maintenance in the capital. Yet, the Interior department estimates that the deferred maintenance backlog for Park Service sites in D.C. is just over $2 billion. Even if the maintenance backlogs for the entirety of Virginia and Maryland were included, the total would only reach $4 billion, leaving a minimum of $6 billion entirely unaccounted for.
So, where is the rest of the money going? Likely to fund Trump’s personal vanity projects rather than public stewardship. Trump is publicly pushing for extravagant projects like a 250-foot “triumphal arch” and a sculpture garden featuring “American Heroes,” both near the White House. These projects are sure to be tacky and expensive, based on the $17 million fountain renovation, which included the addition of color-changing LED lights, and the $13 million reflecting pool paint job, which doesn’t even include fixing the pool’s faulty plumbing. As a result, experts say the pool could soon turn green due to a build up of algae.
Reporting by the New York Times found that the firm responsible for building the White House ballroom was awarded the no-bid contract for the Lafayette Park fountain job, while a Virginia-based firm that previously worked on swimming pools at a Trump golf club was awarded the no-bid contract to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
A subcontractor painting the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool; Source: @iamgabesanchez on X
This blatant prioritization of the president’s backyard and ego over America’s cherished public lands has sparked bipartisan outrage. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska expressed deep concern over the severe Park Service personnel cuts, noting that the agency cannot properly manage the lands or keep visitors safe “unless we have the people there,” while Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon criticized the D.C. spending spree, stating that “vanity projects to promote the current president are better suited to a regime than to a republic.”
As Secretary of the Interior, Burgum should be standing up for America’s national parks, instead he’s gleefully forsaking them in favor of stroking the president’s ego. When infrastructure at national parks across the country begins to crumble as the “American flag blue” reflecting pool turns green with algae, Doug Burgum will hold the blame as much as Donald Trump.
Feature image: Lafayette Park fountains, post-renovation; Source: screenshot, TrumpDailyPosts on X