Duckworth Rips Trump’s Arch Project, Advocates for Veterans Over Vanity Alongside Activists

October 01, 2026 Duckworth Rips Trump’s Arch Project, Advocates for Veterans Over Vanity Alongside Activists At the Public Citizen-led protest, the Senator underscored how money to build Trump’s latest pet project would be better spent investing in our military families and VA care for Veterans [WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today at a protest rally held by Public Citizen, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation—slammed Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth for invoking national security as an excuse to push through the president’s “Triumphal Arch” pet project, highlighting how using the arch as a military installation complete with snipers and drones would not make anyone safer and would only add further risk to the already complex Washington, D.C., airspace. The Senator passionately condemned Trump’s latest vanity project as a disgrace to the fallen heroes laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, which she noted will one day also be home to some of the brave servicemembers killed in Trump’s illegal war of choice against Iran. Instead, Duckworth advocated that the money that would be used for the arch’s construction would be better spent investing in our military families and Veterans’ care as the Trump Administration continues to cut our VA workforce and make it harder for our heroes to receive the treatment they’ve earned through their service. Full video of Senator Duckworth’s remarks is available on YouTube , and key quotes can be found below: Key Quotes: “Listen, I am here because I am pissed off. I’m pissed because the five-time draft dodging coward of a Commander-in-Chief, sitting over there in the White House, dares to dishonor the men and women of this country who have put on her colors and now lay at rest in the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery… How dare this coward erect a monument to his own vanity covered in the same fake gold that he’s plastered all over the Oval Office and his Marie Antoinette ballroom. We are not going to let him get away with it.” “Our Veterans and our military families deserve better than this. If you want to spend this kind of money on this arch, let’s take that money and spend it on something that really matters. Let’s spend it on DoD schools so our military kids have a good education. Let’s take that money and give it to our Veterans that are dying, waiting in line to get into the VA, because this president has committed to firing 83,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs so that he can deny Veterans access to the VA. Let’s put this money into funding more mental health experts to serve and care for our Veterans with post-traumatic stress…As long as I’m alive, as long as I’m here, I’m going to fight to defend our Veterans, our military families and our military and men and women in uniform.” “You know what? There are going to be heroes laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery that have given up their lives because of Trump’s war of choice in Iran. Let’s make it clear what this president has done to this nation. His war has driven up costs for American families, has put hundreds of our heroes in the wounded wards of our various military hospitals and has resulted in the loss of more than a dozen lives of our men and women in uniform…We’re not going to let it go any further. We’re going to stop this arch.” Duckworth has been a leading voice in the U.S. Senate in opposition to Trump’s so-called “Triumphal Arch.” Last week, she demanded Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to secure the safety of the D.C. airspace by rejecting Trump’s “Triumphal Arch” project as well as the president’s absurd plans to turn his latest vanity monument into a military installation that houses a large number of drones, snipers and ammunition. In June, Duckworth called on Administrator Bedford to reject any pressure to rubberstamp Trump’s golden arch that could endanger the flying public by being built in one of the most complex and congested airspaces in the country. -30- Print Tweet Next Article Previous Article