Lawmakers Warn Trump Officials Not to Pursue Arch Project Without Congress

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/us/politics/trump-triumphal-arch-congress.html

Lawmakers Warn Trump Officials Not to Pursue Arch Project Without Congress
In a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and national parks officials, several Democrats and a Senate independent said that members of the administration could face fines and even criminal prosecution.
By Luke Broadwater
June 15, 2026

...

In a letter sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and two National Park Service officials, Democrats who oversee natural resources on Capitol Hill joined a Senate independent in writing that the administration would be breaking at least three laws by moving ahead with the project, and that Trump officials could be personally penalized.

“Appropriated funds may be applied only to the objects for which Congress appropriated them,” the letter says, warning that officials who use unauthorized funds could be subject to “suspension without pay, removal from office and, for knowing and willful violations, criminal fines and imprisonment.”

The letter was signed by Senator Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and Representative Jared Huffman of California, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, among others.

The letter adds that the administration would also be violating the Commemorative Works Act, which governs monuments on federal land in Washington; a 1912 law that says buildings or structures “shall not be erected” on federal land in the capital “without express authority of Congress”; and the Height of Buildings Act, which generally does not allow buildings that are more than 160 feet tall in Washington.

“This project is stone-cold illegal,” Mr. King said in an interview. “It is one of the clearest legal cases I’ve seen in more than 50 years of being a lawyer.”


https://www.king.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/sen_king_letter_to_burgum_re_arch.pdf




... ...

[J_William_Ryan]

1. '"This project is stone-cold illegal," Mr. King said in an interview.'

Trump doesn’t care; Trump is a criminal and convicted felon – he has no problem violating the law.