During a tense hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee on the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget, Democratic lawmakers repeatedly grilled Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum for prioritizing costly beautification projects in Washington, D.C., while looking to slash the National Park Service budget by around $1 billion.

“If you put this $1 billion towards our national parks instead of Trump’s ballroom, you could avoid that cut — that would benefit every single American,” Dexter said.