Donald Trump finds a century-old loophole to completely bypass Congress’s approval standing in the way of his will

A major controversy is growing in Washington D.C. as President Donald Trump‘s administration pushes forward with plans to build a 250-foot arch near the Lincoln Memorial – without getting approval from Congress. The administration is leaning on a century-old authorization that was originally meant for a completely different project that was never built.

The proposed arch would be built on federal land at the Columbia Island roundabout, near the Memorial Bridge that connects Arlington and the National Mall. Critics say the scale of the project would change one of the capital’s most visible gateways and could affect pedestrian access, road traffic, and airspace in an area close to Reagan National Airport.

According to Raw Story, administration officials argue that Congress effectively pre-approved the arch when lawmakers ratified a 1925 report by the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission, which called for two 166-foot columns on Columbia Island. Those columns were never built. Trump’s arch would use the same 166-foot base as the original plan but add another 84 feet of pedestal and statuary to reach 250 feet total.

The legal argument behind the arch has drawn sharp criticism from lawmakers and experts

Legal experts and lawmakers have pushed back hard on the administration’s reasoning. “The notion Congress a century ago authorized construction of this 250-foot arch in Memorial Circle is absurd,” said Wendy Liu, a lawyer at Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is representing military veterans and an architectural historian suing to halt the project. 

This is not the first time Trump’s approach to bypassing congressional approval has drawn fierce opposition from lawmakers. Liu added that the 1925 authorization was “for a now-defunct commission to design and construct Arlington Memorial Bridge, which was completed a century ago, pursuant to a 10-year construction and funding schedule.” She said it “did not authorize this arch.”

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called the legal argument “tortured” and “laughable,” comparing it to the administration’s pattern of bypassing Congress on the White House ballroom and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation.

According to WUSA 9, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts is scheduled to review revised arch proposals, with the administration having removed four golden lions from the original design. However, the arch remains 250 feet tall – taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Trump has been making several changes to Washington’s landmarks lately, and renovations to the White House grounds have also drawn public attention in recent months.

A federal judge has already ruled that construction cannot begin while legal challenges are still ongoing. The project remains in the early stages of federal review, and its future is uncertain as scrutiny over both the design and the approval process continues to grow.