Top House Oversight Democrat demands answers on Reflecting Pool renovation 'failure' [View all]

Source: The Hill

06/24/26 11:12 AM ET


Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is demanding answers about the renovation work at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, after algae bloomed and paint peeled shortly after the project’s completion. Garcia addressed these concerns in Wednesday letters to the two construction firms awarded no-bid federal contracts for the more than $14 million project, Green Water Solutions and Atlantic Industrial Coatings.

“The President should be focused on making life more affordable for the American people, not rewarding his loyalists with government contracts and wasting taxpayer money on failing projects,” he said in a statement. We’re demanding answers straight from the contractors about the project’s failures.” The president has speculated that the pool was vandalized and said Tuesday morning that authorities have made six arrests and issued seven federal citations for alleged “damage they did to our Country’s now beautiful Reflecting Pool.”

Democratic lawmakers have questioned the president’s claims of vandalism, with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) telling CNN’s John Berman on Tuesday that there is a “24/7 camera” aimed at the pool that would show evidence of vandalism. “The president can back up his position on this by showing this film to the American people, Durbin said. “Let them see it with their own eyes if it exists.”

The president directed reporters to the National Park Service for evidence. He also announced on Tuesday that the pool will be partially drained “either immediately before or after” Independence Day for further repairs. “In the latest example of stunning waste, fraud, and abuse, the Trump administration skirted standard contracting practices to award non-competitive contracts to Trump donors and acquaintances — including yourself — to beautify the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting pool,” the California Democrat wrote in his letters to the two firms.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5938234-robert-garcia-house-oversight-donald-trump-reflection-pool-failure/