White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair said the White House declined a visit to see the ongoing renovations of the Federal Reserve headquarters because the time they provided was too late.
“They offered us 7 p.m. this evening. We rejected that. I don’t think after hours on a weekend is when we want to be there,” Mr. Blair told reporters Friday. “We want to see what’s going on. We want to see what the construction is like.”
He said a note was sent back through the Office of Management and Budget to say they’d rather visit next week during the day.
OMB Director Russell Vought told reporters Thursday that a site visit is in the works to see why the renovation project is over budget.
The White House and OMB have grown increasingly critical of the central bank’s $2.5 billion plan to renovate its headquarters on the National Mall in Washington. The renovations were originally priced at $1.8 billion, and the Fed has said the cost increases were due to design changes, increases in the cost of materials, equipment, and labor, and “unforeseen conditions” such as more asbestos than anticipated and toxic contamination in the soil.
The White House’s criticism of the renovations adds to the clash between President Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom the president has berated for not lowering interest rates.
Mr. Vought has compared the price tag on the renovations to France’s Palace of Versailles and suggested that the Fed has lied to Congress about how much the project would cost.
He railed about what the renovations are adding to the building, claiming they include VIP dining rooms, rooftop terraces, gardens, premium marble and elevators.
A new Frequently Asked Questions page on the Fed website claims that it isn’t true.
“No new VIP dining rooms are being constructed as part of the project,” the website says. “Eccles has conference rooms, which are being renovated and preserved. They are also used for mealtime meetings.”
Mr. Blair said they’re interested to see if what Mr. Powell said was true about the renovations.
“He said all of the design plans have changed from all of the features that have been much discussed to the public, the gardens, the beehives, the VIP elevators, the water features. He said, ’All of this has changed,’” Mr. Blair said. “We just want to know whether or not that’s true. We want to see it for ourselves.”
