Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers on Wednesday that the military parade President Trump has asked for could cost between $10 and $30 million.
Mulvaney made the estimate while speaking to the House Budget Committee. “I want to ask you about this military parade that the president’s proposed,” Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California, said during the hearing. “The parade that is very similar to those that are held in authoritarian countries like in North Korea. How much is that parade going to cost and where is that money coming from?”
Mulvaney defended the parade, saying that the U.S. had had a similar one “as recently as the 1990s,” an apparent reference to the victory parade held after the Gulf War in 1991. He then said he’d seen “various different cost estimates from between I think $10 million and I think $30 million depending on the size of the parade, the scope of it the length of it, those types of things.”
According to Mulvaney, the last-minute nature of the request meant that it had not been accounted for in this year’s budget, and that the administration “would continue to work with you folks if we decide to push forward with that initiative.”
Mr. Trump has requested that the Pentagon being preparations for a military parade last month. He has repeatedly spoken of his desire for such a parade, particularly after his Bastille Day visit to France last summer.
“It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Trump told reporters two months after viewing the Bastille Day parade. “It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.”
“We’re going to have to try to top it,” he added.
Lawmakers from both parties have been critical of the parade proposal, but the Pentagon is evaluating possible dates for the event. Possible dates for the parade include Memorial Day, July 4th, and Veteran’s Day, which will be held in November on the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
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