September 2026 | Advocacy News

Monumental Arch Consequences Are Now Dwarfed By Systemic Efforts to Gut the National Historic Preservation Act

By Kurt Stege, Advocacy Committee Co-chair

The July issue of the Advocacy News outlined the overwhelmingly negative consequences of the Monumental Arch that is proposed to sit at the base of Arlington National Cemetery. The Arch is just one of numerous highly visible changes to central Washington, D.C., that have been advanced by the current administration. While each one of these projects has caused much gnashing of teeth within the historic preservation community, the administration is also pursuing two distinct systemic changes that could upend preservation prospects throughout the country.

United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.