Democrats will get new power to probe Trump’s DC projects if they win back the House

If Democrats take back one or both chambers, they’ll unlock a sweeping new set of investigative powers they could unleash on President Trump’s D.C. projects.

For months, Democrats have lamented the Trump administration’s efforts to “beautify” Washington, D.C., including construction on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, plans to build an arch near Arlington National Cemetery and efforts to build a White House ballroom.

While the party out of power has attempted to investigate these and additional Trump activities during the president’s first two years in office, getting control of Congress would also mean that Democrats would be able to demand documents and subpoena witnesses — powers they could use to take Trump and his allies to task.

“We’re going to be making up for two years of zero oversight by this feckless MAGA Congress, and on top of that, we’re going to have to tackle everything that pops up on our watch,” Rep. Jared Huffman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, told The Hill on Monday.

Renovating the nation’s capital, with its significant National Park Service sites, has been a particular priority of the president — focusing heavily on the Reflecting Pool in his closing message to voters ahead of the midterm elections.

If he gets the committee gavel, Huffman is expected to probe a wide range of issues that fall under his committee’s oversight of the Interior Department, including the president’s D.C. projects.

Ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday, the Trump administration embarked on several contentious projects , including renovations to the Reflecting Pool and the creation of a White House ballroom.

The projects included a series of contracts that, contrary to ordinary procedure, were awarded through a no-bid process, meaning they were awarded to one firm without an open process for other companies to make competing offers.

The New York Times reported that some of the projects included inflated profit margins for the contractors.

“A lot of this is no-bid contracts that just have the stench of corruption and self-dealing and incompetence, and we deserve better than a government that operates that way, so we’re going to just shine a bright light, and there is a sanitizing effect of even that,” Huffman said.

“But there has to also be accountability where rules were broken, and we will need to complete this work to really have that full accounting,” he said.

Yet, the congressman also acknowledged that with the Trump administration still in power, the potential impact of his investigations will face limitations if he uncovers any illicit activity.

“A criminal referral to Todd Blanche at DOJ is kind of comical, but we’ll see,” Huffman said, referring to the attorney general. “We’ll certainly weigh all our options.”

Democrats could also probe Trump’s arch, a project they have described as illegal, saying it requires specific legal authorization and that its public comment process under a historic preservation law was “indefensibly truncated.”

Meanwhile, other Democrats also have their eye on Trump’s D.C. projects. Rep. Chellie Pingree (Maine), the top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Interior Department, is also looking to hold hearings on the topic.

“I’ve been the ranking member for the last two years, and if I am lucky enough to be the chair, then I’ll put a lot of my focus on that committee work,” she told The Hill last month. “We didn’t really hold very many public hearings, and I would like to increase that, particularly on some of the more controversial things that are going on with Donald Trump’s use of public lands, which comes under the Department of Interior, some of the shifting of funding from national parks he used for his Washington vanity projects.”

For its part, the Trump administration says it has done nothing wrong and that the Democrats are simply looking to disparage the president.

“Radical democrats are opposed to anything that celebrates the greatness of our country because they have become America Last losers,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle in an email.

“All of President Trump’s projects have been flawlessly executed to protect, safeguard, and honor our Nation. Any investigations into them will be obstructionist and conducted in bad faith, aimed solely at blocking the President’s historic efforts in cleaning up and making America safe, beautiful, and successful again,” Ingle said.

The administration has also defended the no-bid contracts, saying they required urgency.

“You’re emphasizing the word ‘no-bid’ like something nefarious has happened and I reject that thesis,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in response to questions from Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) in May.

“I think we do have a sense of urgency. I mean we got handed a record amount of deferred maintenance, we had 19 fountains across the city that didn’t work,” Burgum said. “I think that maybe all of us can agree that we would want to have our nation’s capital looking great for the 250th.”

Meanwhile, another, similar area of potential investigation for the Democrats is Freedom 250 , a public-private partnership launched by the Trump administration that has put on Trump-touted events in the District, including an IndyCar race and a state fair on the National Mall .

The group’s sponsors include oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron, tech companies like Oracle and Palantir and defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing.

Democrats have said the group was used to “hijack” the nation’s birthday and accused it of selling access to the president. They also said in July that fundraisers may have “misled donors” who thought they were giving instead to the separate America250 organization.

Freedom 250 said in a statement to The Hill that it is “proud to have united Americans through unforgettable signature events, nationwide initiatives and projects — from the Freedom Trucks and July 4 celebrations to the 2026 Patriot Games — that celebrate our country and inspire the next generation.”

In the past, the group has said charges that donors were misled were “unequivocally false” and that Democratic accusations were “a partisan smear from politicians who would rather manufacture division than celebrate America’s 250th birthday alongside the rest of the country.”

Meanwhile, if Democrats also take back the Senate, it could mean even more investigations. Sen. Martin Heinrich (N.M.) is currently the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Interior Department. He’d be poised to chair the committee if Democrats win the Senate.

A spokesperson for Heinrich told The Hill that if the senator ascends as chair, he will “drive an agenda focused on lowering costs for American families and protecting public lands for future generations. That includes conducting oversight into this administration’s use of federal funds in ways that raise costs and undermine public access to public lands.”