As of spring 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump is allocating $5 million of taxpayer funds to coat Washington, D.C. horse monuments in gold.
The Trump administration approved a federally funded $5 million contract dedicated to the comprehensive restoration and regilding of four major bronze equestrian sculptures in the nation’s capital, which involves applying 23.75-karat gold leaf onto the figures.
The exact breakdown of how much of the $5 million specifically pays for the gold leaf versus structural cleaning and repairs remains unspecified in the budget. However, given material expenses, it is expected that a significant portion covers the gold application.
Social media users widely discussed claims in early 2026 that President Donald Trump authorized $5 million in public money to cover historical horse monuments in gold.
These assertions spread across platforms like X, Facebook, Reddit, and Threads. Critics, including several prominent progressive lawmakers, targeted the administration for prioritizing luxury sculpture renovations while many citizens face economic challenges.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote on X, criticizing the expenditure for monumental statues during a broader affordability crunch as deeply disconnected from everyday working-class needs.
The story initially surfaced through investigative reporting by NOTUS, an online publication. According to the report, the National Park Service (NPS) planned the restoration of four prominent bronze horse sculptures in Washington—collectively known as the Arts of War and the Arts of Peace pairs—ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4.
Federal records show that the NPS awarded a multi-million-dollar agreement to a Maryland-based gilding studio to handle both the structural repairs and the application of heavy 23.75-karat gold leaf.
While official financial filings do not isolate the exact cost of the gold materials from general conservation labor, public statements from the administration note that the project requires substantial quantities of gold leaf.
Consequently, fact-checkers categorized the rumor as mostly accurate, subject to minor unverified budgetary specifics.
The Department of the Interior, which oversees the NPS, defended the initiative as part of broader efforts to revitalize public spaces in the capital for the semiquincentennial celebration, noting that the statues had not been regilded in half a century.
Administrative updates indicated that restoration work progressed throughout the summer, with scaffolding gradually removed from the completed sculptures for public viewing.
A Closer Look at Federal Documents
Public spending records confirm that the NPS issued the contract to The Gilders’ Studio to execute the complete conservation and regilding of the monumental bronze artwork.
Government database updates later adjusted the total contract amount upward to account for supplementary labor. Funding for the project was drawn from internal administration accounts managed by the Department of the Interior.
Project outlines published on federal procurement portals specified that the labor encompasses bronze cleaning, corrosion remediation, structural repairs, protective priming, and the application of high-grade gold leaf alongside granite plinth restoration.
Interior Department documentation emphasized that tight scheduling constraints linked to the July 4 milestone justified the contract’s rapid approval timeline.
Procurement and Pricing Justifications
Federal filings reveal that the contract was awarded without a traditional open bidding process due to the urgency of completing the work ahead of the national anniversary.
While the agency published a special notice to allow competing firms an opportunity to respond, officials maintained that the selected studio possessed unique specialized experience handling large-scale historic monuments of similar technical complexity.
Additional reports highlighted that the horse restoration is part of a broader series of capital beautification initiatives overseen by the Interior Department leading up to the nation’s milestone anniversary.