{"id":29353,"date":"2025-06-30T15:48:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T15:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=29353"},"modified":"2025-06-30T15:48:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T15:48:47","slug":"fed-chair-jerome-powell-accused-of-lying-to-congress-over-2-5b-palace-of-versailles-hq-revamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=29353","title":{"rendered":"Fed Chair Jerome Powell accused of lying to Congress over $2.5B \u2018Palace of Versailles\u2019 HQ revamp"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is being accused of lying to Congress after he denied that a $2.5 billion revamp of the central bank\u2019s Washington headquarters will load the facility with lavish amenities \u2014 and some are demanding that he be punished, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Powell called\u00a0The Post\u2019s exclusive report in April<\/a>\u00a0about the bloated renovation project \u2014 which led Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to liken it to the \u201cPalace of Versailles\u201d during a grilling by the Senate Banking Committee last week \u2014 \u201cmisleading and inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no VIP dining room, there\u2019s no new marble. There are no special elevators,\u201d Powell insisted under questioning from the powerful panel on Wednesday. \u201cThere are no new water features, there\u2019s no beehives, and there\u2019s no roof terrace gardens.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Illustration6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
Powell was accused by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) of making \u201ca number of factually inaccurate statements\u201d during his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.Jack Forbes \/ NY Post Design<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Powell \u2014 who is meanwhile facing heat from President Trump over a failure to slash interest rates \u2014 directly contradicted the project\u2019s own planning documents, which were signed off on by government pen pushers in 2021 \u2014 and which haven\u2019t been revised since.<\/p>\n

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\"Illustration6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

The costly vanity project was signed off on by US government pen pushers in 2021 and costs are already overrunning.NCPC<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cThe private dining rooms on Level 4 (of the Fed\u2019s Eccles building) will be restored,\u201d reads one excerpt from the filing with the National Capital Planning Commission. \u201cThe Governors\u2019 private elevator will be extended to discharge at the dining suite level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documents also expressly mention \u201cvegetated roof terraces\u201d that will welcome \u201curban wildlife and pollinators\u201d as well as new marble and water features.<\/p>\n

Andrew T. Levin \u2014 a professor of economics at Dartmouth College who served as an economist and advisor to the Fed\u2019s board from 1992 to 2012 \u2014 urged Congress to step in and punish Powell for lying to lawmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cA top Fed official cannot be permitted to make false statements under oath at a congressional hearing. Such statements must be promptly corrected, and in egregious cases, subject to censure by the Senate,\u201d Levin said.<\/p>\n

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\"Headshot6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
Andrew T. Levin, a former Fed official, has argued for stronger congressional oversight of the central bank.Dartmouth<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a majority member of the Senate Banking Committee, told The Post that Powell \u201cwas clearly not prepared for his testimony, and should be embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made a number of factually inaccurate statements to the Committee regarding the Fed\u2019s plush private dining room and elevator, skylights, water features, and roof terrace,\u201d Lummis said in a statement to The Post. \u201cThis is typical of the mismanagement and \u2018don\u2019t bother me\u2019 attitude that Chair Powell has always shown.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Fed spokesman declined to comment.<\/p>\n

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\"Sen.6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a majority member of the Senate Banking Committee, told The Post that Powell \u201cwas clearly not prepared for his testimony, and should be embarrassed.\u201dGetty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 72-year-old Powell also appeared to dismiss concerns that the revamp was being subsidized by American taxpayers in Wednesday\u2019s hearing, saying simply that \u201cthe cost overruns are what they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eye-watering price tag for the overhaul has already ballooned by 30% from an original estimate of $1.9 billion.<\/p>\n

Scott, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, branded the renovations \u201cluxury upgrades that feel more like they belong in the Palace of Versailles.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Sen.6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
Sen. Tim Scott grilled Powell about the eye-wateringly expensive renovations after The Post\u2019s April expose on the Fed\u2019s DC HQ.AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After The Post broke the story about the Fed\u2019s reckless spending on the HQ upgrade, former Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk called the news \u201can eyebrow raiser.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tesla titan, who has since left government, said DOGE should \u201cdefinitely\u201d investigate how so much money came to be blown on the glorified vanity project.<\/p>\n

By comparison, JPMorgan\u2019s new headquarters in Midtown Manhattan \u2014 a luxe, 60-story tower at 270 Park Ave. designed by star architect Norman Foster \u2014 is set to cost an estimated $3 billion.<\/p>\n

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\"Illustration6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
Planning documents posted online appear to directly contradict Chair Powell\u2019s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee.NCPC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is being accused of lying to Congress after he denied that a $2.5 billion revamp of the central bank\u2019s Washington headquarters will load … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29355,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29353\/revisions\/29355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}