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President Donald Trump announced on Friday his plan to request $2 billion from Congress for the purpose of enhancing the aesthetic appeal of the areas surrounding the White House and Capitol Building.
During an unexpected visit to The People’s House museum, located across from the White House, the president presented another construction initiative he intends to undertake.
Trump has previously unveiled several renovation plans for the White House, which he claims to be personally financing, and he also guided reporters through the Kennedy Center—another site slated for improvements following his oversight of the cultural center.
He disclosed on Friday, ‘We’re going to be raising about $2 billion from Congress, and Congress is happy to do it, and we’re going to wisely spend the money.’
Later, within the Oval Office, the president mentioned that he had already secured support from fellow Republicans, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, for a spending proposal aimed at D.C. beautification.
He said a contractor had already been decided on and these changes would focus on the looks of the streets.
‘We’re going to head out right from the Capitol and the White House, and look at a circle, and go about three miles out,’ Trump elaborated on the proposed improvement zone. ‘It’s going to be beautiful.’
The president pointed to a light pole he could see outside from the museum.
‘All those light bulbs. See the poles there? They’re rusting, and they got different lenses on top,’ Trump said. ‘So many different problems.’
President Donald Trump on Friday took an unscheduled trip to The People’s House museum across the street from the White House. There he revealed another building project he had up his sleeve
President Donald Trump said he would ask Congress for $2 billion to improve Washington, D.C.’s physical streets near the White House and Capitol Building. Workers are pictured repaving Black Lives Matter plaza near the White House in D.C. earlier this year
‘And we’re going to have this place beautified within a period of 12 months,’ he said.
He then detailed that the dollars would go toward literally cleaning up the streets.
‘The streets are going to be re-topped, not ripped up, and rebuilt, they’re no good after they’re rebuilt unless they start settling. We’re going to take off the asphalt and put beautiful, well done asphalt,’ he said. ‘You know, if you have a good asphalt worker, it’s the greatest thing you can have. But there aren’t too many of them. But we know, I know, all the good contractors.’
‘So this place will be beautified within a period of months, so it will be safe and beautified,’ the president added.
Trump said the ‘big question will be how long do we stay.’
On August 11, the president announced he was federalizing D.C.’s local police force and sending in National Guard troops to deal with crime in the capital city.
Washington, D.C.’s crime rate had been moving down since 2023 but that didn’t stop Trump from announcing the federal takeover.
He pointed to an incident that happened to ‘Big Balls,’ the ex-DOGE employee who was beaten up by teenagers in an attempted carjacking off of Washington’s popular 14th Street corridor earlier this month.
President Donald Trump walks on Pennsylvania Avenue toward The People’s House: A White House Experience museum. He highlighted it Friday as the White House is stopping tours during the construction of his ‘big, beautiful ballroom’
President Donald Trump deployed members of the National Guard to D.C.’s streets saying the effort was to combat crime in the city. Residents of the city, who are without Congressional representation, are largely against federalizing the District, polling showed this week
Trump has been boasting that his efforts have already been a success.
On Friday he talked about an unnamed friend who ‘hasn’t been out in four years to a restaurant.’
‘And now he’s been out four nights,’ Trump bragged.
‘He called me this morning, by the way. He said it’s so safe. He feels like, totally safe. He can walk – he’s got a 10 block walk, he walks it. He wouldn’t have walked those 10 blocks. He said it would be a chain of hell, he called it,’ the president continued.
‘He had no chance of making it to the 10th block,’ Trump claimed. ‘It hasn’t been cleaned, now it’s going to be clean,’ the president said of D.C.
Residents of Washington, who have no Congressional representation, have been largely against the federalization of their city, polling this week showed.
They were also already shorted more than $1 billion by Congress earlier this year.
Lawmaker passed a continuing resolution that trimmed $1.1 billion from D.C.’s budget, something the House of Representatives was supposed to fix before going home for August recess.
Despite support from House Speaker Mike Johnson, that vote didn’t happen, leaving the District in a lurch.
The president made the comments Friday while taking an unscheduled trip across 17th Street N.W. to The People’s House: A White House Experience, an interactive museum – which includes a replica of the Oval Office – that was created by the White House Historical Association.
Trump announced earlier this month that he had donated his first paycheck to the White House Historical Association.
The reason for Friday’s visit was to promote that The People’s House had its own gift shop and White House-like tours – as both the on-site gift shop and White House tours have shut down in order for Trump’s grand ballroom to be constructed as part of the East Wing.
