President Donald Trump launched ambitious plans for America’s semiquincentennial celebration, setting a July Fourth deadline to complete a wide array of projects beyond Saturday’s celebration on the National Mall.
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Going as far back as his first term, Trump envisioned using the country’s 250th birthday as a target date to complete initiatives such as finalizing capital-area beautification projects, setting up his nationwide investment account program for children and inking a trade agreement with the European Union.
But not everything Trump wanted done by Independence Day has been accomplished — or even started.
Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that “no other president has done more to beautify our Nation’s interior than President Trump.”
“From restoring our treasured landmarks, which had suffered years of abuse and vandalism, to cleaning our parks and the Reflecting Pool, President Trump’s bold vision ensured that America rang in its 250th birthday celebration with glory and pride,” Ingle said.
Here is the status of several prominent projects that were slated for completion by July Fourth:
Trump aimed to solve the iconic pool’s years-long leaking issues by the Fourth of July with a controversial $14 million renovation that included painting the bottom “American Flag Blue.”
Trump said the refresh would result in clean water and “could last for 100 years.” But within days of the repairs that had been completed before America’s 250th birthday, the pool experienced one of the biggest recorded algae blooms in years. Not long after, the paint began to peel.
Trump has blamed vandals for the damage to the pool and announced in late June that further repairs would soon begin.
The work of the U.S. DOGE Service officially ended July Fourth, a deadline in line with Trump’s executive order establishing the office.
DOGE spearheaded a contentious effort established by Trump at the start of his second term to reshape the federal bureaucracy and shrink government spending. Elon Musk led the office until late May 2025.
The Trump administration had signaled that DOGE had disbanded before the July Fourth deadline. In November, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters that DOGE was no longer a “centralized entity.”
The office’s work spurred a litany of lawsuits that broadly argued that DOGE’s efforts to slash federal spending were illegal.
At the Social Security Administration, a major target for DOGE, Musk’s team sought to find savings in the government’s massive mandatory spending program by attempting to uncover fraud. But many of the changes DOGE had pushed at the agency were abandoned or reversed after proving ineffective and stirring a backlash.
In an ongoing court case about DOGE’s access to agency data, the SSA has reported that all DOGE members left the agency as of January and it had no plans to bring them back.
Lafayette Square, the park north of the White House, has been fenced off for renovations since January. The president has said he wanted the refurbishing done in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.
Trump personally inspected Lafayette Square’s renovations in late June as part of a citywide tour of federal construction projects he has initiated in Washington.
An Interior Department spokesperson said in a statement that the “project in Lafayette Square is well overdue, and we are grateful the President is prioritizing such an iconic space ahead of America’s 250th.”
However, the park remains blocked off to the public. The National Park Service imposed a temporary closure of Lafayette Square and other park grounds surrounding the White House from June 28 through July 31. According to a notice from John Stanwich, the NPS liaison to the White House, the U.S. Secret Service determined that the restriction to the grounds was “necessary to ensure the security of the White House Complex, including to protect the President of the United States and other government officials.”
The Washington Post previously reported that, along with renovations to the park grounds, Trump is planning to install a new permanent fence, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss administration plans. The fence would be installed on the north and south sides of Lafayette Square, the people said, allowing officials to shut the park if they deem it necessary.
“Trump accounts” — investment accounts for American children seeded with $1,000 in federal funds — launched July Fourth.
The accounts are open to anyone under the age of 18 with a Social Security number and function like traditional IRAs, allowing investments in index funds. Qualifying children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, are eligible for the $1,000 one-time deposit if their families enroll in the program.
The accounts are a type of traditional IRA that allows for investments in index funds. Withdrawals from the accounts are taxable until the child reaches retirement age, unless the funds are used for education, a first-time home purchase, birth or adoption costs, or medical expenses.
Trump struck a deal for a preliminary trade agreement with the European Union in July 2025, which said the U.S. would impose a 15 percent tariff on most European products.
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But in May, Trump threatened to increase tariffs on the E.U. if the bloc did not approve the trade framework by the Fourth of July. The E.U. recently finalized approval, and the deal took effect July 1.
In a January 2025 executive order, Trump reestablished the 1776 Commission, a panel the president said would promote patriotic education.
The order tasked the commission with advising and promoting the federal government’s celebrations for America’s 250th birthday and “provide a grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion.”
Trump directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to establish the commission within the Education Department within 120 days of the order. The commission was to be composed of up to 20 members appointed by the president for a term of two years, according to Trump’s order.
There is no evidence that the commission was ever created or that it advised or promoted work related to this year’s Independence Day celebrations.
When Trump established the commission in his first presidential term, he said it would aim to promote a “pro-American curriculum that celebrates the truth about our nation’s great history,” which he said would encourage educators to teach students about the “miracle of American history.” The commission’s report, which was released on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2021, was criticized by some historians as an effort to stoke the culture wars.
Trump signed an executive order establishing a Religious Liberty Commission and directing its members to produce a report related to religious liberty in the United States.
The commission delivered a draft to Trump at the end of June. The 224-page report recommended the Justice Department issue guidance to promote “an originalist understanding” of how the Constitution sees the relationship between religion and government. The report is a draft, and comments from the public are open until July 12.
The commission was set to terminate July Fourth, unless extended by the president. It’s not clear yet whether Trump has extended the commission’s timeline.
Trump is eyeing Washington’s West Potomac Park, which sits along the Potomac River near the Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, as the site of his planned “National Garden of American Heroes.”
The president has pursued the construction of the garden — a project that will feature life-size statues of roughly 250 Americans — since his first term.
When Trump first issued an executive order to build the garden in 2020, during his first term, he directed the government to open it to the public before July 4, 2026. But that order was rescinded by Trump’s successor, Joe Biden.
Trump reestablished the effort in a January 2025 executive order, removing language that set a deadline for construction to be completed by the semiquincentennial. Instead, the order called for construction to be completed “as expeditiously as possible.”
A coalition of Washington-area preservation and cultural heritage organizations is suing the Trump administration over plans for the garden. Trump administration officials have begun commissioning statues and securing funding, but the coalition says development of the garden must be halted until Congress authorizes the project.
Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 directing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to make improvements to Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia by July 4, 2026.
Independence Hall was temporarily closed in November to prepare the site for the semiquincentennial. The site reopened to the public Jan. 29.
A National Park Service spokesperson told The Post that Independence Hall was “open, accessible and ready to welcome visitors from across the country for America’s 250th anniversary celebrations.”
In preparation for the 250th birthday celebration, the park completed multiple restoration projects, including improvements to the First Bank of the United States, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, Old City Hall and the Liberty Bell Center.
The Trump administration’s efforts to beautify Washington ahead of July Fourth included a project to fill potholes in the nation’s capital.
In April, the Interior Department solicited contractors aiming to address “a White House priority to fill and repair potholes” around the Washington region “before the America 250 Celebration events.”
The contract went to Pennsylvania-based Patch Management Inc. The tally of potholes filled as a result of the contract remains unclear, but the federal government exercised an option for additional work. The $177,000 contract is now projected to end Aug. 28.
Cat Zakrzewski, Laura Meckler, Meryl Kornfield and David Lynch contributed to this report.
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