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The move would also bar the administration from transferring the public land to President Donald Trump, his family or their businesses.

October 29, 2026

A senior House Democrat is urging congressional leaders to block the Trump administration from using taxpayer money to help turn East Potomac Park into a championship golf course and from transferring the public land to President Donald Trump, his family or their businesses.

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, argued that the administration’s planned seawall repair and Trump’s golf-course overhaul are closely linked. He asked House and Senate appropriations leaders Thursday to attach restrictions to year-end spending legislation, ensuring that money for the failing seawall cannot be used to advance the larger redevelopment project.

The Trump administration says it will close East Potomac Golf Course on Nov. 15 and move forward with plans for a Tom Fazio-designed championship course. In a court filing Wednesday, the administration also laid out the serious, long-documented problems with the aging seawall surrounding the park’s peninsula. The agency said it plans to close the park south of Buckeye Drive next month, citing the seawall’s safety hazards.

Trump’s administration is seeking $500 million for National Park Service construction, including “targeted restoration and construction” for the East Potomac seawall and the World War II Memorial.

The restrictions proposed by Huffman would allow routine maintenance and seawall replacement along its current path. But they would bar federal money from redesigning or expanding the golf courses, altering roads, removing healthy trees, constructing new buildings or reshaping the land.

They would also prevent the sale or transfer of East Potomac and bar agreements that could give Trump, his family or their businesses an interest in the property, though the administration has not signaled an intent to sell East Potomac.

“Congress should now use the power of the purse to close the door on a land sale,” Huffman wrote.


By:  Rick Maese
Source: The Washington Post