Mulvaney: Trump's military parade could bear $30M price tag

Fulfilling President Donald Trump’s dream of a military parade could cost up to $30 million, his White House budget director said Wednesday.

“I’ve seen various different cost estimates from between, I think, $10 million and $30 million, depending on the size of the parade, the scope of it, the length of it, those types of things,” OMB Director Mick Mulvaney told the House Budget Committee today. “Obviously, an hour parade is different than a five-hour parade, in terms of the cost and the equipment.”


The White House confirmed last week that Trump has asked the Pentagon to explore organizing a major military celebration.

Mulvaney said the concept was not included in the fiscal 2019 budget the White House released Monday “simply because it has come up at the last minute.”

“So we will continue to work with you folks if we decide to push forward with that initiative. … But of course, you have to appropriate funds for it, or we have to find funds for it that you have already appropriated,” the budget director said. “We have not done much research on it yet.”

The last military parade in the nation’s capital, held in 1991 to celebrate victory in the Gulf War, cost roughly $12 million. Lawmakers from both parties, as well as retired military leaders and veterans, have criticized the idea of throwing another one.

During this morning’s budget hearing, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) claimed the president’s plan for a parade is “very similar to those held in authoritarian countries like North Korea.”

