{"id":24979,"date":"2026-06-25T09:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=24979"},"modified":"2026-08-13T10:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:00:20","slug":"merkley-launches-investigation-into-waste-fraud-and-abuse-surrounding-renovation-of-the-reflecting-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-launches-investigation-into-waste-fraud-and-abuse-surrounding-renovation-of-the-reflecting-pool\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley Launches Investigation into Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Surrounding Renovation of the Reflecting Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee\u2014launched an investigation into the Trump Administration\u2019s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of America\u2019s 250th anniversary, which has so far reportedly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/reflecting-pool-renovations-cost-16-million\/story?id=134024265\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cost American taxpayers more than $16 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within weeks of the renovation\u2019s completion, the Reflecting Pool suffered its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2026\/06\/18\/algae-detected-reflecting-pool-higher-levels-than-any-june-past-5-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">worst algae bloom in years<\/a>, and then the pool\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/paint-is-already-peeling-trumps-renovated-washington-reflecting-pool-2026-06-18\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new coating began peeling<\/a>. Now, Merkley is demanding answers from the U.S. Department of the Interior and contractors\u2014Atlantic Industrial Coatings, LLC and Greenwater Services\u2014about the waste of taxpayers\u2019 dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>\u201cAfter railing about waste, fraud, and abuse, Donald Trump spent more than $16 million on a renovation of the Reflecting Pool that\u2019s now peeling and chock full of algae,\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;dijo Merkley.&nbsp;<strong>\u201cThis is a massive waste of working families\u2019 hard-earned tax dollars. I\u2019m launching an investigation because taxpayers deserve swift answers\u2014and a refund.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Full text of the letter and the list of questions Merkley sent can be found by clicking\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/26.06.24-Oversight-Letter-Reflecting-Pool.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee\u2014launched an investigation into the Trump Administration\u2019s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of America\u2019s 250th anniversary, which has so far reportedly\u00a0cost American taxpayers more than $16 million. Within weeks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":24866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[105,139,36,129],"class_list":["post-24979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-appropriations","tag-budget","tag-natural-resources-and-rural-development","tag-protecting-consumers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merkley Launches Investigation into Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Surrounding Renovation of the Reflecting Pool - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-launches-investigation-into-waste-fraud-and-abuse-surrounding-renovation-of-the-reflecting-pool\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merkley Launches Investigation into Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Surrounding Renovation of the Reflecting Pool - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee\u2014launched an investigation into the Trump Administration\u2019s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of America\u2019s 250th anniversary, which has so far reportedly\u00a0cost American taxpayers more than $16 million. 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