{"id":17628,"date":"2026-06-24T23:02:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17628"},"modified":"2026-06-24T23:02:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:02:39","slug":"lawmakers-demand-answers-as-turmoil-over-reflecting-pool-repair-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17628","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers demand answers as turmoil over Reflecting Pool repair continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MATTHEW DALY<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Congressional Democrats called for investigations Wednesday into renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, as the ongoing drama over the president\u2019s problem-plagued, $16 million rehabilitation project continued to roil the capital.<\/p>

Read more Dozens of states could face new costs because of high error rates in SNAP food aid<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawmakers in the House and Senate demanded answers about the saga that\u2019s been highlighted in the news cycle for weeks, even as the White House has repeatedly blamed \u2014 without evidence \u2014 unidentified vandals for peeling paint and other problems. Six people have been arrested, President Donald Trump said, without providing details, and a local wildlife nonprofit conducted necropsies on dead ducks found near the Reflecting Pool. The president has said the pool may need to be drained once again for additional repairs.<\/p>\n

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, challenged the Trump administration over no-bid contracts for work on the Reflecting Pool, saying they were awarded to vendors with previous relationships to Trump.<\/p>\n

National Park Service projects undertaken at Trump\u2019s behest in the Washington area \u201chave been marked by blatant corruption, a shocking lack of transparency, disregard for legal requirements and apparent incompetence,\u201d Blumenthal wrote Wednesday in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Jessica Bowron, the acting Park Service director.<\/p>\n

\u201cRushed no-bid contracts given to unqualified vendors with previous relationships to the president resulted in a reflecting pool more covered with algae than before, with freshly painted chunks of paint peeling from the bottom to float on the pool\u2019s surface,\u201d Blumenthal said.<\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s capital \u201cwill now celebrate America\u2019s 250th birthday with an empty reflecting pool, a testament to incompetence and corruption,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n