Congress proposes carving sitting president onto Mount Rushmore.
H.R. 792 — To direct the Secretary of the Interior to arrange for the carving of the figure of President Donald J. Trump on Mount Rushmore National Memorial. · Filed by Anna Luna (R-FL) · Introduced Jan 28, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to carve a figure of President Donald J. Trump onto Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The bill names a sitting president as the subject of a new federal monument carving, which would require significant taxpayer funding, engineering work, and alteration of a protected national landmark.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is to direct a federal agency to carve a sitting president onto a protected national monument. This is a direct use of government power to honor an active officeholder, funded by taxpayers, with no public-policy justification beyond political recognition.
What the text implies
- Establishes precedent that sitting presidents can be added to protected national monuments via simple legislation, potentially opening Mount Rushmore to future carving requests.
- Raises constitutional and statutory questions about the National Park Service's authority to alter a protected monument without environmental review or public process.
- Creates fiscal exposure: carving costs, engineering, safety, and maintenance are undefined but potentially substantial.
- Bypasses normal monument-designation processes, which typically require public input, historical significance review, and multi-year deliberation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens bear the cost of a massive, unprecedented carving project on a protected national monument to honor a sitting president, which diverts public resources and sets a problematic precedent for using federal landmarks as vehicles for sitting officeholder commemoration. The project offers no public benefit beyond the political honor of the sitting president.
Who stands to gain
- construction contractors
- engineering firms specializing in monument work
Named in the bill
Secretary of the Interior, National Park Service, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, President Donald J. Trump, House Committee on Natural Resources, Rep. Luna (sponsor)
Where it stands
- Jan 28, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 28, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (958 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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