Is Mount Rushmore a victim of Trump’s Washington, DC ‘vanity’ projects?

President when Donald Trump When he arrives in South Dakota’s Black Hills to give a speech on the eve of the 250th anniversary of America’s Mount Rushmore, it will be at a time when the century-old monument is in serious need of maintenance.

The national landmark, which features the 20-foot-tall faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt carved into a granite mountain, has $57 million in deferred maintenance needs, according to the National Park Service.

As of fiscal year 2025, NPS had a backlog of deferred maintenance projects totaling more than $24.2 billion for monuments and parks nationwide. House and Senate Democrats, meanwhile, say the Trump administration diverted tens of millions of dollars in fees paid to NPS to fund “President Trump’s vanity projects” in Washington. reports and information announced to Congress.

Trump has undertaken several projects in Washington D.C. and the White House, including repairs to water fountains in Lafayette Square, the East Wing Ballroom, and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Many of these projects have faced criticism for a variety of reasons, including not seeking congressional approval and awarding no-bid contracts. An analysis of federal contracting data by USA TODAY found that 20 days before Trump first announced that the reflecting pool would be renovated, the government had already committed $8.5 million to repair the pool, even though the president said it would cost $2 million.

Under the Federal Land Recreation Improvement Act of 2004, at least 80% of entrance fees paid on-site are required to be retained and used in the national park where the fees are collected. The remaining 20% ​​can be used to improve parks that do not charge entrance fees.

In addition, Democratic lawmakers also allege that revenue from the sale of digital “America the Beautiful Passes” is funding some of these projects “without any guardrails or transparency.”

Unlike on-site collected fees, FLREA does not mandate a specific formula for the use of digitally collected revenue.

“Reliable sources with direct knowledge of these matters have now informed Congress that much, if not all, of the toll revenues from online America the Beautiful Passes are being used to fund the President’s “beautification” projects in Washington,” reads a June 23 letter from California Senator Adam Schiff and his colleagues to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “This means that this revenue is not directed to national parks across the country.”

The letter asks a number of questions, including answers to what percentage of revenue from online sales has been used for those projects and how much of NPS’s entertainment fee account has been used for D.C.-based projects since January 2025, when Trump reclaimed the White House for a second term.

The Department of the Interior responded to USA TODAY’s question about funneling park entrance fees to projects in Washington, D.C., by saying there are many funding sources that can be spent on deferred maintenance.

“Unlike Barack Obama, who spent millions of dollars on taxpayer-funded Great Recession relief aid that was supposed to go to struggling families, the Trump administration is looking at different financing mechanisms for deferred maintenance, including donor funds and revenue from the sale of parking passes,” spokeswoman Katie Martin said.

It also noted that revenue from pass-through sales increased from $13.7 million in 2025 to $14.3 million in the first three months of 2025.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal.

This article first appeared on USA TODAY: Is Mount Rushmore a victim of Trump’s ‘vanity’ projects in Washington DC?