King, Merkley, Colleagues Call to Terminate Illegal Plans for “Triumphal Arch”

King, Merkley, Colleagues Call to Terminate Illegal Plans for “Triumphal Arch” June 18, 2026 Key legislators cite federal laws that prohibit construction without congressional approval WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Subcommittee on National Parks, is leading a group of his Congressional colleagues in objecting to the Trump Administration’s proposed plan to illegally construct a “Triumphal Arch” without congressional approval. In a letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, the Acting National Park Service (NPS) Director and the Superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, members of both the House and Senate demand the Administration suspend the plans for construction of the arch, as proposed on federal land, unless Administration receives congressional authorization as required by multiple federal laws. “We write as Ranking Members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives committees and subcommittees with jurisdiction over the construction of monuments in the Nation’s Capital to comment on the Assessment of Effects Report (Report) and draft Programmatic Agreement for the proposed Triumphal Arch at Memorial Circle,” the lawmakers began. “We oppose this project in the strongest terms and object to execution of the draft Programmatic Agreement. The National Park Service (NPS) is assessing the effects of an undertaking that Congress has never authorized and that two federal statutes squarely prohibit. Section 106 consultation cannot supply that missing authority, and no programmatic agreement can resolve the adverse effects of a project the NPS has no power to build.” “We also object to the indefensibly truncated Section 106 comment process, which falls short of the law. The NPS has allowed ten days, June 5 to June 15, for public comment on a 250-foot undertaking that its own Report concludes would adversely affect historic properties across the monumental core, in a review the Report acknowledges is subject to the heightened duty of Section 110(f) of the National Historic Preservation Act to minimize harm to National Historic Landmarks to the maximum extent possible,” the legislators criticized about the rushed comment period. “Ten days of public comment cannot discharge that duty.” “Because Congress has enacted no laws authorizing this commemorative work, NPS must take the only course allowed by law: suspend the Section 106 process, decline to execute the Programmatic Agreement, issue no construction or special use permits, and undertake no ground disturbance at Memorial Circle unless and until Congress provides the express authorization these statutes require,” the authors continued. “If the Administration believes the semiquincentennial warrants a permanent commemorative work in the capital, the path is open and well worn; it runs through Congress, as it has for every memorial since the Continental Congress approved the first, an equestrian statue of George Washington, in 1783,” the Senators and Representatives concluded. In addition to King, the letter is signed by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), as well as Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), and Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ). As a lifelong advocate for conservation and Ranking Member of the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Senator King is among the Senate’s most prominent voices advocating for our national parks. Senator King helped lead the passage the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) into law ; the legislation that included the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF). Because of his work, in 2020, Senator King was awarded the inaugural National Park Foundation (NPF) “Hero” Award . Earlier this year, Senator King and most of the authors of the letter to Secretary Burgum, filed a legal challenge to the Arch in federal court , stressing Congress’s role in authorizing projects on public lands. The full text of the letter can be found here and below. +++ Dear Secretary Burgum: We write as Ranking Members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives committees and subcommittees with jurisdiction over the construction of monuments in the Nation’s Capital to comment on the Assessment of Effects Report (Report) and draftProgrammatic Agreement for the proposed Triumphal Arch at Memorial Circle. We oppose this project in the strongest terms and object to execution of the draft Programmatic Agreement. The National Park Service (NPS) is assessing the effects of an undertaking that Congress has never authorized and that two federal statutes squarely prohibit. Section 106 consultation cannot supply that missing authority, and no programmatic agreement can resolve the adverse effects of a project the NPS has no power to build. Most fundamentally, the Commemorative Works Act 1 provides that a commemorative work may be established on land administered bythe NPS in the District