Turns out "Freedom" isn't free — and neither is Trump's sparsely attended 250th anniversary bash. That's on top of the $150 million Congress already handed over — money the administration swore private donors would supplement. He's calling the ask "unacceptable," pointing out that Freedom 250 — not the public — should be picking up costs it was designated to handle. “It is unacceptable to ask the American people to bail out Freedom 250,” Merkley wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Meanwhile, Freedom 250 hasn't exactly been hurting for cash.