2026年9月30日 / 美国东部时间下午2:54 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
作者：理查德·埃斯科维多
华盛顿——美联储监察长周三宣布，对美联储总部耗资数十亿美元的翻新工程未违反联邦法律。此前特朗普总统曾将该工程批评为“可耻”，不过该办公室认定，糟糕的项目管理大幅推高了工程成本。
这份长达121页的最新报告称：“在我们的评估过程中，从未发现有合理理由认定存在违反联邦刑法的行为，因此无需根据《监察长法案》将案件移交美国司法部长。”监察长办公室同时认定，白宫此前抱怨的“奢华铺张”且不符合获批方案的设计细节并无问题。
美联储监察长迈克尔·霍洛维茨写道，尽管报告发现“翻新项目的管理存在缺陷”，并据此提出了一系列建议，但“我们在评估过程中未发现行政不当行为”。
这份报告是历时一年多的内部调查的最终结果。监察长办公室表示，该调查是应时任美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔的要求，于2025年7月启动的。
奇普·索莫德维拉 / 盖蒂图片社
司法部于今年1月启动了另一项独立调查。鲍威尔当时在一段视频讲话中透露，美联储已收到大陪审团传票，作为正在进行的刑事调查的一部分。
这些传票与2025年6月鲍威尔在银行委员会作证时谈及的美联储办公室翻新多年项目相关，可能导致起诉。美国联邦住房金融局局长比尔·普尔泰于2025年7月敦促国会调查鲍威尔在翻新工程问题上的证词，指控他存在“欺骗行为”，但未提供任何证据支持其指控。
监察长办公室同样审查了鲍威尔的证词，认定其不存在刑事不当行为。
针对鲍威尔的刑事调查正值特朗普频繁抱怨他拒绝快速降息之际。华盛顿特区联邦地区法院最终撤销了特区检察官珍妮娜·皮尔罗发出的传票，认定这些传票是施压鲍威尔投票降息或辞职的借口。
今年1月，特朗普提名凯文·沃什接替鲍威尔出任美联储主席，但沃什的提名 confirmation 遭遇关键阻碍：北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员汤姆·蒂利斯表示，在皮尔罗撤销对鲍威尔的刑事调查之前，他不会投票确认任何提名。
今年4月，皮尔罗宣布联邦检察官已结束刑事调查，为沃什的提名确认扫清了障碍。
皮尔罗当时表示，她期待监察长办公室提供一份关于调查结果的“全面报告”，并称她“相信这一结果将有助于一劳永逸地解决促使本办公室发出传票的相关疑问”。
周三，皮尔罗告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，她将审阅这份报告。CBS新闻已向她的办公室询问是否计划重启刑事调查。
凯文·卡特 / 盖蒂图片社
通过采访美联储理事、理事会高级官员、工作人员和承包商，监察长办公室确定了导致建筑翻新成本飙升的四个方面，并提出了七项建议。
霍洛维茨的报告得出结论，美联储未从总承包商处获取建筑成本估算，也未在项目初期向承包商披露既定的成本上限。此外，内部项目治理被认定为“不足”，无法管理如此大规模的数十亿美元项目。
在采访中，监察长办公室发现，官员们多次将通胀列为成本上涨的主要推动因素。报告评估称，“通胀显然是一个因素”，但成本超支幅度超过了通胀率。
监察长办公室曾要求美联储理事会评估通胀对该项目的影响。根据报告，理事会未提供分析来解释通胀如何影响总成本。
报告称：“相反，理事会向我们提供了两名高级经济学家的评估意见，他们指出，虽然他们‘同意生产者价格指数是衡量新办公建筑成本总体变化的良好指标，但使用该指数——或任何通用建筑成本指数——来评估特定项目的成本上涨可能具有误导性’。”
沃什已收到报告副本，并于周二致信霍洛维茨，表示负责管理联邦建筑和财产的总务管理局已受聘为该翻新项目向美联储提供咨询，同时向沃什和理事会汇报工作。
沃什还表示，理事会将启动对建筑工程的全面审计，以“确定未获得服务的价值，并寻求适当的补救措施”。他称，美联储将为其已付款但未完成的工作寻求报销或信贷。
除沃什的信函外，美联储拒绝置评。
根据报告，截至今年7月，距开工已过去四年、几乎所有建筑合同都已授予的情况下，理事会仍未确定保证最高价格。
美联储总部的翻新工程于2017年首次获批，预计2027年完工。这项涵盖两栋建筑的项目预估成本已从19亿美元升至近25亿美元。美联储表示，成本上涨的原因包括：与审查机构磋商后对原建筑设计进行修改；材料、设备和劳动力成本上升；以及土壤污染、发现比最初预期更多的石棉等不可预见情况。
美联储监察长曾两次对出现成本超支的翻新项目进行审计。鲍威尔去年在参议院表示，他已要求内部监督机构“重新审视该项目”。
周三发布的监察长报告多次提及此前的审计，这些审计发现了此前存在的挑战，包括缺乏适当的前期规划、不可靠的成本估算、未实施的成本控制措施以及监管不完整。不过，2022年的一项审计审查了美联储的合同修改流程，认定其“有效”，并未提出任何建议，因为审计期间美联储的合同修改手动框架已改为电子系统。
白宫管理和预算办公室主任拉塞尔·沃特于2025年7月致信鲍威尔，对翻新计划提出异议，称该计划“要求建造屋顶露台花园、VIP私人餐厅和电梯、水景、高级大理石等诸多奢华设施”。特朗普总统曾将此次翻新称为“极其奢华的排场”，并表示花费25亿美元进行升级是“可耻的”。
但霍洛维茨得出结论，一些设计特征——如为美联储主席配备的私人电梯、大量使用大理石、花园露台和天窗——“并未实质性推高建筑成本”。
梅利莎·奎因、雅各布·罗森和乔·沃尔什为本报告撰稿。
Fed watchdog finds no laws broken in $2.5 billion Fed renovations Trump has called “disgraceful”
September 30, 2026 / 2:54 PM EDT / CBS News
By Richard Escobedo
Washington— The Federal Reserve’s inspector general announced Wednesday that the multibillion-dollar renovations of the Fed’s headquarters criticized by President Trump as “disgraceful” did not violate federal law, though the office concluded poor project management dramatically increased the cost.
“At no point during our evaluation did we find reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of federal criminal law had occurred requiring a referral to the U.S. Attorney General in accordance with the Inspector General Act,” the new 121-page report stated. The IG also did not find fault with features that the White House had complained were “ostentatious” and noncompliant with the approved plans.
Although the report found “deficiencies in the management of the renovation project” that resulted in a series of recommendations from the inspector general, “we did not identify administrative misconduct during our evaluation,” wrote Michael Horowitz, the central bank’s inspector general.
The report is the culmination of an internal investigation that lasted more than a year, which the IG says came at then-Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s request and began in July 2025.
President Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell touring the renovation project on July 24, 2025. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
A separate Justice Department probe was announced in January, when Powell revealed in a video message that the Fed had received grand jury subpoenas as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
The subpoenas threatened an indictment related to Powell’s testimony before the Banking Committee in June 2025 about the years-long project to renovate the Fed’s offices. Bill Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, urged Congress in July 2025 to investigate Powell over his testimony about the renovations, alleging he has been “deceptive.” He offered no evidence to back up his accusations.
The IG also reviewed Powell’s testimony and concluded there had been no criminal wrongdoing.
The criminal probe involving Powell came amid Mr. Trump’s frequent airing of frustrations with him for declining to rapidly slash interest rates. The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., ultimately quashed the subpoenas issued by D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, finding they were a pretext to pressure Powell into voting to lower interest rates or resigning.
In January, Mr. Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell as Fed chair — but Warsh’s confirmation faced a key hurdle when Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he would not vote to confirm any nominee until Pirro dropped the criminal probe into Powell.
In April, Pirro announced that federal prosecutors had ended their criminal investigation, clearing the way for Warsh’s confirmation.
Pirro said at the time that she expected the inspector general’s office to provide her with a “comprehensive report” on its findings and said she was “confident the outcome will assist in resolving, once and for all, the questions that led this office to issue subpoenas.”
On Wednesday, Pirro told CBS News that she would review the report. CBS News has asked her office if she plans to reopen a criminal investigation.
Construction on the Federal Reserve building in Washington on July 30, 2026. Kevin Carter / Getty Images
After interviews with Fed governors, senior Board officials, staff and contractors, the IG identified four areas that caused the building renovation costs to surge and issued seven recommendations.
Horowitz’s report concluded that the Fed did not obtain a construction cost estimate from its general contractor and did not share a stated cost limitation with the contractor at the outset. Also, internal project governance was found to be “insufficient” to manage such a large-scale multibillion-dollar project.
In interviews, the IG found that officials repeatedly pointed to inflation as the chief driver of cost increases. The IG’s report assessed that “inflation was clearly a factor,” but that the cost overruns surpassed the rate of inflation.
The IG asked the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors for an assessment of inflation on the project. According to the report, the Board did not provide analysis to explain how inflation impacted the overall cost.
“Instead, the Board provided us with an assessment from two of its senior economists, who noted that while they ‘agree that the [Producer Price Index] is a good measure of general changes in new office construction costs, using this measure — or any general index of construction costs — to evaluate cost increases for any specific project can be misleading,’” the report reads.
Warsh has received a copy of the report and on Tuesday wrote to Horowitz to inform him the General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings and property, had been retained to advise the Fed on the project, reporting to both Warsh and the Board.
Warsh also said the Board would initiate a full audit of the construction in order to “determine the value of any services not received, and pursue appropriate remedies.” He said the Fed would seek to be reimbursed or credited for any work that it paid for but that was not performed.
The Fed declined to comment beyond Warsh’s letter.
According to the report, as of July, the Board had not established a guaranteed maximum price — four years after construction began and after almost all of the construction awards had been issued.
The renovations of the central bank’s headquarters were first approved in 2017 and are set to be completed in 2027. The estimated cost of the project — which encompasses two buildings — has risen from $1.9 billion to nearly $2.5 billion. The Fed has said the cost increases are a result of changes to the original building designs after consultations with review agencies; a rise in the cost of material, equipment and labor; and unforeseen conditions like soil contamination and the discovery of more asbestos than was initially expected.
The inspector general at the central bank has twice conducted audits regarding renovation projects that experienced cost overruns, and Powell told the Senate last year that he had asked the internal watchdog to “take a fresh look at the project.”
Those audits, which Wednesday’s IG report references at length, identified previous challenges including lack of proper preplanning, unreliable cost estimates, unimplemented cost-control measures and incomplete oversight. However, one of the audits, in 2022, examined the Fed’s contract modification process and found it to be “effective,” offering no recommendations because the Fed’s manual framework for modifying contracts was changed to an electronic system during the audit.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought wrote to Powell in July 2025 to take issue with plans for the renovation that “called for rooftop terrace gardens, VIP private dining rooms and elevators, water features, premium marble, and much more.” President Trump has referred to the renovations as a “very luxurious situation” and said that spending $2.5 billion on the upgrades is “disgraceful.”
But Horowitz concluded that some design features — like a private elevator for the Fed chairman, the extensive use of marble, a garden terrace and skylights — “did not materially contribute to the construction cost increases.”
Melissa Quinn, Jacob Rosen and Joe Walsh contributed to this report.
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