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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Rep. Don Beyer, the Democrat whose Northern Virginia district includes Alexandria and Arlington National Cemetery, said Wednesday he and Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., plan to introduce legislation this week to block President Trump's proposed 250-foot "triumphal arch" near the cemetery, and separately asked Interior officials to disclose traffic studies for the project.
The Arlington National Cemetery Viewshed Protection Act, to be introduced Friday during the House's pro forma session, would explicitly prohibit construction of the arch on the Memorial Circle traffic island in Lady Bird Johnson Park, permanently bar federal funds for the project, and prohibit construction of similar non-Congressionally-approved structures on any National Park Service land in the National Capital Region, according to a release from Beyer's office.
The push comes a week after the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, composed of Trump appointees, voted May 21 to approve revised designs for the gold-and-white arch — a structure topped by a gilded winged figure holding a torch, planned to sit on the federal traffic circle between Arlington Memorial Bridge and the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. The arch would tower over the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial across the river.
Beyer, whose parents, grandparents and sister are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, said in a statement that the project would "desecrate" sacred ground "to build a monument to Donald Trump's ego," and noted Trump's response when a CBS News reporter asked who the arch was for: "Me."
Titus, co-chair of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, previously led an inquiry in April challenging the administration's use of $15 million from the National Endowment for the Humanities budget — including $2 million in special initiative funds and $13 million in matching grants — to fund a project the White House had earlier said would be paid for privately.
"I am fighting this abuse of taxpayer dollars with Congressman Beyer by introducing legislation that would clearly prohibit President Trump from using federal funds for pet projects like this one," Titus said in a statement.
Beyer and Titus argue the project violates the Commemorative Works Act, which requires congressional approval for memorials on federal land in or near Washington. A federal judge weighed the legality of the project earlier this spring after Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian sued in February to block construction, arguing the arch would obstruct views from Arlington National Cemetery and was not properly authorized; the court declined to grant an immediate injunction.
In addition to Beyer and Titus, the bill will be cosponsored by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and 22 House Democrats, including Reps. Suhas Subramanyam and Bobby Scott of Virginia.
A separate request for traffic data
In a letter sent the same day to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron, Beyer asked for "copies of traffic studies and any other documentation available regarding plans that the Department of the Interior and National Park Service have undertaken with respect to transportation impacts" from the project.
The proposed site sits at the convergence of major regional roadways — the George Washington Memorial Parkway, Washington Boulevard, Arlington Boulevard, Memorial Avenue and Arlington Memorial Bridge. Roughly 70,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day, most of them from Virginia, Beyer wrote, citing federal data. The area also includes the heavily used Mount Vernon Trail.
Beyer compared the prospect of construction disruption to the 2018-2020 rehabilitation of Arlington Memorial Bridge, which the Park Service undertook to address structural concerns. "One key difference between that renovation work and the proposed arch is that the former was undertaken by your agencies to protect the public from potentially fatal accidents or deterioration of this heavily used bridge, whereas the proposed arch is being built, according to President Trump, for himself personally," he wrote.
Administration's position
Trump has cast the arch as a commemoration of the United States' 250th anniversary, writing on Truth Social that it "will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World" and contending that an arch in the capital was first sought 200 years ago, "interrupted by a thing called the Civil War, and so it never got built."
The administration's renderings, prepared by the architectural firm Harrison Design and released in April, depict the arch topped by a winged figure flanked by gilded eagles and guarded by four lions, with inscriptions reading "Liberty and Justice For All" and "One Nation Under God." The administration has set a target completion date of July 4.
The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
