The Mega Project That Should Never Have Been Approved

Russell Vought, Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget: "This is about the renovations that are being carried out and the level of wastefulness they represent. The cost we're talking about now is $2.5 billion. If you look at the Palace of Versailles and update those figures to modern values, it would be about $3 billion.

The Capitol cost around $2.5 billion, including all of its buildings, from the founding of the country until 1982. If you look at the largest buildings in the world, this is reaching that level. I mean, it would probably qualify as one of the eight wonders of the ancient world, if we could go back that far.

And in the end, when did this ever go through review by a democratic body? This is the National Capital Planning Commission. Now we have an opportunity to ask tough questions of the Federal Reserve. We will be asking tough questions about the Fed.

But this is about the president being offended by the cost overruns. He’s a developer, and the scale of this project is something that should never have been approved."