{"id":899030,"date":"2026-09-17T09:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/899030\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:52:21","slug":"park-service-awards-contracts-for-trumps-east-potomac-golf-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/899030\/","title":{"rendered":"Park Service Awards Contracts For Trumps East Potomac Golf Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration has awarded contracts to begin work on President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s planned takeover of the East Potomac Golf Links<\/a> in Washington, Democrats<\/a> on the House Natural Resources Committee said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the panel\u2019s top Democrat, revealed during a committee hearing that the National Park Service hired a civil engineering firm to begin work on the historic public golf course, without any public announcement or heads-up to Congress.<\/p>\n

A lawsuit challenging Trump\u2019s plan to revamp the golf course argues that the administration\u2019s redevelopment would violate the congressional act that created the park more than a century ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, this is not just any old golf course. This is a beloved public space with huge historic significance,\u201d Huffman said.<\/p>\n

Trump is \u201csystematically moving to take this historic, publicly accessible resource and turn it into another gilded private golf club for the mega-rich,\u201d Huffman said, calling the project \u201ca methodical, deliberate effort to take a public park away from the people,\u201d with American taxpayers footing the bill.<\/p>\n

A contract approved last week authorizes nearly $400,000 for a Massachusetts-based company to perform environmental and historic preservation compliance work at the course, Huffman said. The park service has since posted a projected construction contract worth up to $49 million, with an expected solicitation date of Jan. 31, 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats on this committee are tracking all of this. We\u2019re going to keep dragging it all into the daylight until the public gets the answers we deserve,\u201d Huffman said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let Donald Trump walk off with our public lands. That park belongs to the American people, and I\u2019m not willing to sit here and watch him simply steal it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $389,355 award to Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., which also has an office in Washington, D.C. and other parts of the country, follows months of activity at the park. The administration said this spring it has reached an agreement with Fazio Golf Design to draw up plans for the renovations. Trump has said he wants to turn the golf course into a world-class golf venue.<\/a> It\u2019s part of his grand vision for Washington, D.C.<\/a>, where he has torn down storied structures, remade or renamed others and deployed the National Guard<\/a> for more than a year.<\/p>\n

Huffman, Maryland Reps. Jamie Raskin and Glenn Ivey, along with District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Virginia Rep. Don Beyer, sent a letter<\/a> to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting park service director Jessica Bowron demanding all documents, communications and records on the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cEast Potomac Park does not belong to Donald Trump,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. \u201cIt belongs to the American people, and it has for more than a century.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Interior Department spokesperson said late Wednesday that \u201cthe full course design is yet to be finalized, so any type of cost estimate speculation over an advance notice of solicitation is premature.\u201d<\/p>\n

East Potomac Park, including the East Potomac Golf Links, was created by a congressional act in 1897, which established the park for the \u201crecreation and the pleasure of the people.\u201d The course opened in 1919.<\/p>\n

Trump, who has multiple projects underway in the capital city, including a $400 million White House ballroom<\/a> and the soon-to-begin construction<\/a> of his triumphal arch, began talking about the city\u2019s public courses late last year.<\/p>\n

Debris from the demolished East Wing of the White House was dumped at East Potomac, forming a three-story mound near one of its three golf courses, which remains there. The National Park Service<\/a> has said that the debris tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen completed, this Course will have the ability to host Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGA Championship, and other top PGA Tour events,\u201d Trump posted on social media in June. He said then that work was meant to begin on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

Some area residents fear the planned changes to the golf course risk altering the character of a place that has served Washingtonians of many stripes for more than a century. Turning the park into an upscale golf course will likely mean higher fees and a loss of public space, residents worry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration has awarded contracts to begin work on President Donald Trump\u2019s planned takeover…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,1376,622,13718,82,7456,2393],"class_list":["post-899030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-donald-trump","tag-golf","tag-national-park-service","tag-sports","tag-trump-administration","tag-washington-dc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}