WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell defended his $2.5 billion headquarters renovation mission close to the Nationwide Mall Thursday — insisting that “we take seriously the responsibility to be good stewards of public resources.”
“We have taken great care to ensure the project is carefully overseen since it was first approved by the Board in 2017,” Powell claimed in a letter to White Home director of administration and finances Russ Vought, regardless that the mission is already about $600 million over finances
Powell has confronted a firestorm of Republican criticism over the lavish renovation — as President Trump calls for that Powell contemplate resigning after refusing to decrease rates of interest.
The renovation mission has given Trump and his allies a technique to stress Powell to both chill out rates of interest or resign below the burden of a number of investigations.
Distinguished Republicans this month stated Powell, in workplace since 2018, could possibly be prosecuted for allegedly mendacity to a Senate committee about luxurious options, together with non-public VIP eating rooms and an out of doors terrace.
Vought final week raised the prospect that Powell broke a distinct regulation if he advised the reality to senators by advantage of creating main adjustments with out approval from the Nationwide Capital Planning Fee — establishing an obvious Catch-22 for the Fed chief.
Powell’s reply to Vought seeks to absolve him of each perjury and illicit alterations by arguing he was sincere with Congress and that adjustments had been so minor they didn’t require approval.
“This information supports and further elaborates on my testimony of June 25, 2025, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs,” Powell wrote.
“The project is large in scope because it involves the renovation of two historic buildings on the National Mall and that were first constructed in the 1930s… Both buildings were in need of significant structural repairs and other updates to make the buildings safe, healthy, and effective places to work.”
Powell wrote, “the project is proceeding in accordance with the plan that the NCPC approved in September 2021. Since the plan’s approval by the NCPC, the Board has made a small number of design changes to scale back or eliminate certain elements and has added no new elements.”
“These changes were intended to simplify construction and reduce the likelihood of further delays and cost increases,” Powell argued.
“Guidance from the NCPC states that agencies should submit revised project information for approved projects only if substantial changes are made in either the design or plan of the project after NCPC review. The Board does not regard any of these changes as warranting further review.”
Final month, Powell denied that the renovation amounted to a wasteful self-importance mission.
“There’s no VIP dining room, there’s no new marble. There are no special elevators,” Powell testified. “There are no new water features, there’s no beehives, and there’s no roof terrace gardens.”
Planning paperwork had referred to as for every of these options.
“There are no VIP dining rooms being constructed as part of the project,” Powell wrote to Vought.
“The Eccles Building has historic multi-use rooms on the 4th Floor that are used as conference rooms and for mealtime meetings. These rooms are being renovated and preserved,” he wrote.
“The Eccles and 1951 Constitution Avenue Buildings were originally built with marble in the façades and stonework,” he added.
“The project has salvaged the original exterior marble to be reinstalled and will use new domestic marble sourced from Georgia in places where the original was damaged or where needed to keep with historic preservation guidelines and to address concerns raised by external review agencies.”
Powell went on: “There are no special, private, or VIP elevators being constructed as part of the project. The original elevators of the Eccles Building are being rehabilitated, including an elevator that services historic conference rooms.”
“Although the Board’s initial design included new water features for the 1951 Constitution Avenue building, they have been eliminated,” he wrote. “Fountains that were original to the Eccles building are being restored.”
Powell additionally argued {that a} “garden terrace” described in paperwork was truly a “green roof” that’s “found on other federal government buildings.”
The development mission is more likely to proceed to be a flashpoint as senior White Home officers together with Vought demand a website go to and critics declare it should rival the Palace of Versailles in inflation-adjusted development prices.
Powell has incurred Trump’s wrath for refusing to decrease rates of interest this 12 months regardless of inflation falling beneath 3%. The chairman argues that Trump’s looming tariffs require restraint, maintaining excessive the price of loans for companies, homebuyers, and customers with automotive leases or credit score balances.
Trump final week stacked the five-member Nationwide Capital Planning Fee with three allies — his workers secretary Will Scharf, White Home deputy chief of workers James Blair and OMB official Stuart Levenbach — in an additional transfer to extend stress.
A Federal Reserve spokesperson stated that they don’t have any data to share on a doable website inspection.
