As working families get squeezed by rising costs at the pump, the grocery store, and the doctor’s office, exclusive reporting from Politico uncovered new spending by the White House to continue Trump’s personal renovation spree. The Trump administration approved $1.1 million in taxpayer-funded contracts to Charles Mann Enterprises to install lighting in the White House bowling alley and an undisclosed “basement studio project.”
Learn more from Politico:
- The White House is renovating one of the most exclusive bowling alleys in America – a favorite rehab target for presidents of both parties that’s at least once blown up in the president’s face.
- On July 28, the General Services Administration, under the auspices of the Executive Office of the President, awarded a nearly $253,000 contract for lighting work on the two-lane Harry S. Truman Bowling Alley, according to public contract awards reviewed by West Wing Playbook.
- The White House and GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- The last time the GSA went near the bowling alley, which is reserved for the use of White House aides and their guests, the project didn’t survive a news cycle. In 2014, under former President Barack Obama, the GSA proposed a complete rebuild of the bowling alley’s lanes, which it described at the time as “irreparable.”
- An hour and a half after Time Magazine broke the story about the bowling alley reno, GSA canceled the project, amid a Republican backlash over whether it was a good use of taxpayer money.
- The Republican-controlled House at the time even adopted an amendment to prohibit funding to renovate the White House bowling alley. Former Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), who introduced the amendment, likened upgrading the bowling alley to ice cream – constituting a “want,” not a “need.”
- Also on Aug. 18, GSA awarded Charles Mann Enterprises a separate $878,000 contract for an “EEOB basement studio project.” The bowling alley is located in the basement of the EEOB. The award listing did not contain any more details about the project.
- Charles Mann Enterprises is a Washington-based construction management, facility support and procurement firm founded by Charles Mann, the four-time NFL Pro Bowler and three-time Super Bowl champion who spent most of his professional football career with the Washington Redskins.
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Published: Sep 1, 2026