The dual role of the National Guard in DC: public safety and beautification
Beyond Washington, DC’s security, National Guard glorification efforts included graffiti and trash cleaning near the White House.
Scripps News Morning Rush
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s deployment in Washington, D.C., National Guard and trash and shovel covering in his hometown city are projected to spend $2 million on taxpayers.
So far, the DC National Guard has spent more than $45 million on deployment, with internal tallys showing $18.8 million and $26.6 million on soldier wages and allowances. That price tag does not include the cost of deploying more than 1,300 national security guards from eight states stationed in Washington.
The Pentagon said it didn’t know the cost of the mission until it was over. It is currently scheduled to close on November 30th, but Trump can expand it.
Ever since Trump deployed the National Guard in the capital in mid-August and said it was necessary to stop crime, uniformed troops have discovered abandoned mulch scooping and shovels in a park near the White House, roaming downtown train platforms and gathering around a hambier parked outside Union Station.
The currently deployed 958 members of the DC National Guard have been sent over 1,340 from eight Republican-run states, including West Virginia, South Carolina and Mississippi, according to the daily updates of September 16th, which announced daily updates for September 16th.
These units “cleaned 1,015 bags of garbage, spread 744 cubic yards of mulch, removed five trucks of plant waste, cleaned up 6.7 miles of roads and painted 270 feet of fencing,” according to the update.
Earlier this month, the DC National Guard sent a letter to local city leaders asking for a community project. So far, one of Washington’s 8th districts has accepted the help of security guards to help run the soup kitchen.
The military has filed a protest from Washington residents and a lawsuit filed September 4 by city attorney general Brian Schwarb, which is called “illegal federal overreach.”
Schwarb and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser will testify on September 18th before the House Oversight Committee.
“$200 million is a lot of money, but we’ll track it,” said Virginia Burger, a senior defense policy analyst for the Government Surveillance Project, who has filed written testimony for the committee.
“Domestic deployment of that scale is not cheap.”
