Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, demanded answers from Green Water Solutions and Atlantic Industrial Coatings regarding President Trump’s failed renovations to the reflecting pool on the National Mall, which is now filled with algae and has paint chipping despite costing taxpayers $14 million. The National Park Service awarded these companies non-competitive contracts, bypassing the competitive-bidding process that is typically required and that helps lower costs for taxpayers. Both contractors have ties to Trump entities.
“Donald Trump’s disastrous renovation of our national reflecting pool is his latest failed vanity project. 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. We’re demanding answers straight from the contractors about the project’s failures,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
The owner of Green Water Solutions, the contractor handling the algae, has donated extensively to President Trump’s campaign and to Trump-linked groups, giving $250,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee in 2020. His firm has experience with only one other federal contract, another non-competitive award granted by the Trump Administration last year. Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the contractor hired to paint the reflecting pool, had never won a federal contract and has done work on pools at a Trump golf course.
In the letters to Green Water Solutions and Atlantic Industrial Coatings, Ranking Member Garcia wrote, “As the nation grapples with a historic affordability crisis and a costly and failed war in the Middle East, President Trump is failing to protect our national treasures while wasting taxpayer dollars through poorly executed pet projects. 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. Now, as the Reflecting Pool’s new paint flakes off in chunks and water is consumed by algae, it appears those taxpayer dollars have been flushed down the drain. While Americans struggle to afford basic necessities amid the economic turmoil sowed by the Trump Administration, I demand information and documents to understand how this egregious waste of taxpayer dollars was allowed to occur.”
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