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WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell defended his $2.5 billion headquarters renovation project near the National 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 House director of management and budget Russ Vought, even though the project is already about $600 million over budget
Powell has faced a firestorm of Republican criticism over the lavish renovation — as President Trump demands that Powell consider resigning after refusing to lower interest rates.
The renovation project has given Trump and his allies a way to pressure Powell to either relax interest rates or resign under the weight of multiple investigations.
Prominent Republicans this month said Powell, in office since 2018, could be prosecuted for allegedly lying to a Senate committee about luxury features including private VIP dining rooms and an outdoor terrace.
Vought last week raised the prospect that Powell broke a different law if he told the truth to senators by virtue of making major changes without approval from the National Capital Planning Commission — setting up an apparent Catch-22 for the Fed chief.
Powell’s reply to Vought seeks to absolve him of both perjury and illicit alterations by arguing he was honest with Congress and that changes were 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.”
Last month, Powell denied that the renovation amounted to a wasteful vanity project.
“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 documents had called for each of those features.
“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 also argued that a “garden terrace” described in documents was actually a “green roof” that’s “found on other federal government buildings.”
The construction project is likely to continue to be a flashpoint as senior White House officials including Vought demand a site visit and critics claim it will rival the Palace of Versailles in inflation-adjusted construction costs.
Powell has incurred Trump’s wrath for refusing to lower interest rates this year despite inflation falling below 3%. The chairman argues that Trump’s looming tariffs require restraint, keeping high the cost of loans for businesses, homebuyers, and consumers with car leases or credit balances.
Trump last week stacked the five-member National Capital Planning Commission with three allies — his staff secretary Will Scharf, White House deputy chief of staff James Blair and OMB official Stuart Levenbach — in a further move to increase pressure.
A Federal Reserve spokesperson said that they have no information to share on a possible site inspection.
English (US)