Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is being accused of lying to Congress after he denied that a $2.5 billion revamp of the central bank’s Washington headquarters will load the facility with lavish amenities — and some are demanding that he be punished, The Post has learned.
Powell called The Post’s exclusive report in April about the bloated renovation project — which led Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to liken it to the “Palace of Versailles” during a grilling by the Senate Banking Committee last week — “misleading and inaccurate”.
“There’s no VIP dining room, there’s no new marble. There are no special elevators,” Powell insisted under questioning from the powerful panel on Wednesday. “There are no new water features, there’s no beehives, and there’s no roof terrace gardens.”
“The private dining rooms on Level 4 (of the Fed’s Eccles building) will be restored,” reads one excerpt from the filing with the National Capital Planning Commission. “The Governors’ private elevator will be extended to discharge at the dining suite level.”
The documents also expressly mention “vegetated roof terraces” that will welcome “urban wildlife and pollinators” as well as new marble and water features.
Andrew T. Levin — a professor of economics at Dartmouth College who served as an economist and advisor to the Fed’s board from 1992 to 2012 — urged Congress to step in and punish Powell for lying to lawmakers.
“A top Fed official cannot be permitted to make false statements under oath at a congressional hearing. Such statements must be promptly corrected, and in egregious cases, subject to censure by the Senate,” Levin said.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a majority member of the Senate Banking Committee, told The Post that Powell “was clearly not prepared for his testimony, and should be embarrassed.”
“He made a number of factually inaccurate statements to the Committee regarding the Fed’s plush private dining room and elevator, skylights, water features, and roof terrace,” Lummis said in a statement to The Post. “This is typical of the mismanagement and ‘don’t bother me’ attitude that Chair Powell has always shown.”
The 72-year-old Powell also appeared to dismiss concerns that the revamp was being subsidized by American taxpayers in Wednesday’s hearing, saying simply that “the cost overruns are what they are.”
The eye-watering price tag for the overhaul has already ballooned by 30% from an original estimate of $1.9 billion.
Sen. Scott, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, branded the renovations as “luxury upgrades that feel more like they belong in the Palace of Versailles.”
https://nypost.com/2025/06/30/business/jerome-powell-accused-of-lying-to-congress-over-2-5b-palace-of-versailles-hq-revamp/