The Fed's Inspector General has examined the renovation of the Eccles Building and found no criminal violation and no administrative misconduct — merely everything else. The budget rose from $1.3 billion in 2020 to $2.4 billion, an 80% overrun. The Board ignored earlier recommendations to set a cost ceiling, never requested construction cost estimates, and four years in — after contracts were awarded — had still not established a guaranteed maximum price. Some work went out with insufficient bidding. Governance was, in the IG's assessment, inadequate for a project of this scale. Savour the irony: the institution charged with managing the price level of the world's reserve currency could not manage the price of its own building, and the explanation offered includes "inflationary pressures." Powell's June 2025 testimony denied the VIP dining room, the new marble, the beehives and the roof terrace gardens; the IG says those items didn't materially drive costs, which is a narrower vindication than it sounds.