Washington, DC — Following an explosive New York Times report this weekend about the renovation project just outside the White House at Lafayette Park, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is calling on Congress to investigate and hold public hearings into the renovation project.

According to the report, the National Park Service awarded a no-bid contract for the renovation project—under the justification of “urgency”—to a contractor favored by President Trump. The contractor, Clark Construction, is the same contractor who is working on President Trump’s ballroom project. Since then, the contract’s cost ballooned to more than three times the government’s own prior estimate. All while standard procurement safeguards, including competitive bidding and transparent evaluation, were bypassed entirely.

In a letter to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the House and Senate committees with oversight jurisdiction of the National Park Service, PEER Executive Director, Tim Whitehouse states:

The report raises serious concerns about waste, abuse of taxpayer funds, and the potential misuse of emergency contracting authorities. The use of no-bid contracts is intended for genuine emergencies—not routine infrastructure repairs. Invoked emergencies absent a clear and legitimate justification, as the National Park Service did here, undermines public trust and opens the door to corruption and self-dealing.

The Lafayette Park fiasco reflects the administration’s misguided priorities, according to Whitehouse. In his FY 2027 budget, Trump has proposed cutting the entire NPS construction budget by nearly half, some $40 million.  At the same time, he has proposed a $10 billion Presidential Capital Stewardship Program, an initiative which would dwarf all other national park capital spending.

“Congress has a responsibility to make sure that the backlog of national park maintenance and construction is properly managed and not warped by narcissism and self-dealing,” says Whitehouse. “The requirements of the bidding process serve a purpose – to make sure taxpayer money is well spent and on the basis of need – and should not be discarded on the whims of the Chief Executive.”

You can see the full letter here.

PEER protects public employees who protect our environment, natural resources, and public health. We support current and former environmental and public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement officers, and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values across federal, state, local, and tribal governments.