# National Capital Planning Commission **Status: stub — expand.** The federal government's central planning agency for the National Capital Region — the body that reviews federal building projects, monuments and land use in and around Washington, D.C. Its twelve members mix federal appointees with local officials, and its review authority is the main procedural check on what gets built on federal land in the capital. In **July 2025** Trump appointed **[[Will Scharf]]**, then White House staff secretary, as chair, alongside other administration deputies. Under that composition the commission has taken the administration's side at each contested step: Scharf asserted in September 2025 that the commission **lacked authority to halt the demolition of the East Wing**; in April 2026 it approved the **[[White House Ballroom Project]]**; and in June 2026 it voted to advance the proposed **United States Triumphal Arch**. Critics, including in Washington Post reporting of March 2026, questioned whether the Trump appointees were legally qualified to vote on the ballroom at all. ## See Also - [[Will Scharf]] · [[White House Ballroom Project]] · [[Executive Branch Org Chart]]