REP. BEATTY TESTIFIES AT JOINT OVERSIGHT SHADOW HEARING ON TRUMP’S UNLAWFUL KENNEDY CENTER TAKEOVER AND COSTLY VANITY PROJECTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03) today testified before a joint Democratic oversight shadow hearing hosted by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, detailing her successful lawsuit against President Donald Trump's unlawful attempt to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and highlighting how the Administration continues to prioritize costly vanity projects over the needs of the American people.

During the hearing, titled "Monumental Waste," Beatty recounted her legal challenge to protect the Kennedy Center and defend the rule of law after Trump-appointed trustees unlawfully stripped ex officio board members of their voting rights and voted to rename the institution.

"My testimony is about not allowing this unlawful act, protecting the rule of law, and standing up for the only living memorial to John F. Kennedy," Beatty said. "It's about whether powerful people can rewrite history, seize public institutions, and silence dissent."

As an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, Beatty filed Beatty v. Trump in December 2025 after being muted during the board meeting in which trustees voted to rename the Kennedy Center. In May 2026, U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled in her favor, restoring her voting rights, ordering Trump's name removed from the building, and blocking the Administration's planned two-year closure of the Kennedy Center.

Beatty also reflected on witnessing the removal of the unlawful signage outside the Kennedy Center after the court's order.

"Justice has prevailed. I have not been silenced, I am no longer prevented from attending and voting in board meetings, and the name has come down," Beatty said.

Beatty concluded by contrasting the Administration's focus on vanity projects with the economic challenges facing American families.

"In these difficult times, American people deserve better than a President who is more focused on slapping his name on buildings than helping lower the cost of groceries," Beatty said. "I would have much rather been here focusing on affordability and helping working families, rather than discussing Trump's vanity projects and petty acts of defiance."

Watch Congresswoman Beatty's opening testimony HERE(link is external).

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