Udall noted there are specific regulations that bar taxpayers from paying for a partisan event, and propaganda is prohibited. Trump's plans seem to veer into that "very tricky area," he said.
"It is unacceptable that the Interior Department is failing to inform Congress about how it plans to spend taxpayer money to fund the president's lavish July 4th plans, which reportedly include special access to the National Mall for the politically connected," Udall said in a statement Tuesday. "The American people deserve to know how much of their money the president is spending to turn their July 4th celebration into a de facto campaign rally. All reports indicate that the president is planning to turn a national day of unity into a day of vanity trying to use the military for political purposes and doling out perks to his political backers at the taxpayers' expense. We need answers."
However, a White House official countered that notion and said Trump's speech will focus on a unifying theme.
"The president has been very clear that he wants to help all Americans celebrate America. It's America's birthday and he wants to celebrate America, our flag and our great military and the men and women who serve in it," the official said. "This speech is not going to be political. It will be a celebration and salute to America."
In a May congressional hearing, Udall and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee subpanel on interior and related agencies, said they wanted cost figures for the new Fourth plans.
"You know that we had asked for those numbers on that," Murkowski told Bernhardt. "We do want this celebration that is a wonderful celebration and a great tribute to our nation to be able to continue and to have the public continue to enjoy it."
In June, Van Hollen, Udall, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote to Bernhardt demanding his agency share the budget.
They say there's precedent to worry.
The Trump administration still owes the D.C. administration $7.3 million from the January 2017 inauguration. As a result, members such as D.C.'s representative in Congress, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, are sounding the alarm that appropriators must replenish the account, known as the Emergency Planning and Security Fund, before it goes dry.
"We are very concerned with an event we can't even price at a time when we are owed money," Norton said. "And I don't think the city can refuse to provide the necessary security. So it is extremely unfair to the city to hold an unprecedented event and not at least choke up money to make it happen."
"It will be wild"
After Trump attended the French celebration of Bastille Day in July 2017, he said one of his first calls was to replicate and "try and top it." The plans, which were slated for Veterans Day Weekend in November 2018, were scratched after word leaked of a $92 million price tag.
Then in February, Trump announced the plans to "HOLD THE DATE" on Twitter.
"We will be having one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C., on July 4th," Trump tweeted Feb. 24. "It will be called 'A Salute To America' and will be held at the Lincoln Memorial. Major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!"
However, some groups are determined to make it clear Trump isn't their favorite president. And that could mean more demands for security.
Progressive political organization VoteVets, which largely supports Democratic military veterans on Capitol Hill, has raised about $40,000 off its plans to counter Trump.