'It’s Grotesque': Democratic Lawmakers Push Back on Costs, Pomp of Trump’s July 4

American taxpayers are looking at a bigger bill for this year's Independence Day party in the nation's capital.

For this Fourth of July, President Trump has added an address from the Lincoln Memorial, tanks stationed in the area, an extended fireworks display and military aircraft flyovers.

Democrats in Congress are complaining about the added expenses and politicization of the event.

"He's just cheapening and weaponizing patriotism in a way that I hope a lot of Americans find deeply disturbing," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) told KQED News.

The annual July 4 parade will be followed by a 6:30 p.m. Trump address from the Lincoln Memorial with military flyovers and performances by the Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps and others. That evening, the Capitol Fourth concert, also a trademark of the usual D.C. holiday, will be followed by an extended fireworks show lasting 35 to 40 minutes.

"There's going to be a big price tag for this and the taxpayers will have to pick up the tab," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which directs spending for such events.

Van Hollen and other Democratic appropriators on Capitol Hill have raised questions and concerns for months that spending for the day could go haywire.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday the National Park Service will redirect almost $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees allocated for park improvement to cover costs for Trump's plans.

"When you take something funded by the Park Service ... you know to aggrandize Donald Trump, and then hand out tickets to his big Republican donors, it's grotesque," said Huffman, who sits on the House Committee on Natural Resources that oversees the National Park Service. "It is a spectacle, a partisan spectacle."

"I hope that somewhere in the endless stream of these outrages, the sensibilities of this country turn more strongly against this man and what he's trying to do," he added.

And just before the big event, Democratic appropriators still don't know how much it will all cost in total.

Congress Waiting on Total Costs. Experts Say it's Not Cheap

"We haven't heard anything," said New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall, ranking Democrat for the Senate Appropriations Committee panel on interior and related agencies. "It's disturbing."

The Federal Aviation Administration said it would suspend operations at Reagan National Airport for 1.5 hours for Trump's speech and flyovers. The aerial program will feature the jetliner used for Air Force One and aircraft representing all five military services, including the Navy's Blue Angels, said Jeffrey Reinbold, a superintendent of the National Park Service.

A military official told NPR it could also include F-35s and F-18s. And there will be military tanks parked along the National Mall, Trump said.

Trump said there would be "the brand new Sherman tanks and we have the brand new Abram tanks." However, production of Sherman tanks ended in the 1940s.

"We're gonna have a great Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. It'll be like no other, it'll be special and I hope a lot of people come and it's going to be about this country and it's a salute to America," Trump said from the Oval Office Monday. "I'm going to be here and I'm going to say a few words, and we're going to have planes going overhead, the best fighter jets in the world and other planes too. And we're gonna have some tanks stationed outside."

NPR's multiple requests for costs related to the plans, as well as more extensive details on the additional military personnel, equipment and security for the day from the Interior Department, National Park Service, U.S. Secret Service, the Pentagon and the five military services went unanswered. A military official said the White House was not approving Pentagon requests to share such details.

It won't be cheap, experts said.

University of Denver professor Andrew Sherbo, who tracks such figures, said the Boeing 747 used for Air Force One could come at a cost of $205,000 an hour (the jetliner is considered Air Force One only when the president is aboard).

The cost per flying hour for the F-35 can be $20,000 or more, according to Department of Defense comptroller figures.

The Blue Angels could cost a more reasonable $6,000 per day, since air shows are tied to their training, said Sherbo, a former Pentagon official who now teaches finance.

The Capitol Concerts portion of the program, plus the annual Memorial Day concert, is budgeted at $6.4 million from the National Park Service budget, which is under the Interior Department, said Annie Orloff, Udall's press secretary.

"The Park Service needs that money for real things, real needs, the backlog of deferred maintenance. And the important mission at the Park Service has nothing to do with a military parade," Huffman said.

It will be followed by a joint show put on by two fireworks companies, Phantom Fireworks and Fireworks by Grucci, that will launch from behind the Lincoln Memorial for a display lasting 15 to 20 minutes. As a result, they are donating an estimated $750,000 or more as part of the plans, said William Weimer, vice president of Phantom Fireworks.

"It will be a pretty overwhelming display," said Weimer. "We saw an opportunity and approached the government in March to make the donation and try to give back to the country that has been so good to us. ... It's a privilege and an honor for us to do this."

They will be followed by Garden State Fireworks, a mainstay of the annual D.C. program since 2013, which will put on a 20-minute show from a new location at West Potomac Park. It will come at a cost of more than $250,000, said Christopher Santore, a choreographer whose family founded the company in 1890.

Last year, Garden State's show was 17.5 minutes long, Santore said.

The celebration is funded by three pots of money: donations, the Interior Department and the Defense Department. This year, the Interior Department and Secretary David Bernhardt have been tasked with leading the expanded plans.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, said since the Capitol's Fourth celebration is paid by three different sources of money, it's a hard tally to track down in a traditional year.

Add to that all the new elements for the presidential address and extended programming, and the costs become even fuzzier.

"It's a good question," Cancian said. "It's difficult to answer."

Udall, Van Hollen and others have pressed Bernhardt and his agency for answers. They have warned that taxpayer funds can't be used for a political rally and say Trump's plans appear to cross that line.

Special Access for VIP Section

The White House is issuing special VIP tickets to access a new, restricted area at the steps to Trump's speech as well as halfway along the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

A White House official said the area is being reserved for friends, family, Cabinet officials and possibly members of Congress. Military personnel, who are slated to perform, will also be in the ticketed area.

On Tuesday, a Republican National Committee official confirmed it had received a "small number of tickets" to distribute for the special section. The official said it was similar to other customary moves under Democratic and Republican administrations to share tickets for Christmas open houses and garden tours at the White House.

But some Democrats were quick to disagree.

Udall noted there are specific regulations that bar taxpayers from paying for a partisan event, and propaganda is prohibited. Trump's plans seem to veer into that "very tricky area," he said.

"It is unacceptable that the Interior Department is failing to inform Congress about how it plans to spend taxpayer money to fund the president's lavish July 4^th plans, which reportedly include special access to the National Mall for the politically connected," Udall said in a statement Tuesday. "The American people deserve to know how much of their money the president is spending to turn their July 4^th celebration into a de facto campaign rally. All reports indicate that the president is planning to turn a national day of unity into a day of vanity – trying to use the military for political purposes and doling out perks to his political backers – at the taxpayers' expense. We need answers."