Explain the Reflecting Pool Mess - No-Bid Contract, $15 Million, Failed in Days

I am demanding an immediate Congressional investigation into the no-bid contract awarded for the recent renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Americans were told this project would cost approximately $1.8 million. Instead, the cost ballooned to more than $13 million, and reports now place the total near $14.7 million. The contract was awarded without competitive bidding, supposedly because the work was so urgent that normal procurement rules could not be followed. Yet the project itself was not an emergency. It was a cosmetic makeover of a functioning national landmark. Now, just days after completion, the pool is reportedly filled with algae and the new coating is already peeling off in large chunks. A multi-million-dollar “improvement” appears to have begun failing within a week. Taxpayers deserve answers. How was this contract awarded? Why was a no-bid process used? Why did costs increase by hundreds of percent? Who approved these expenditures? Why was taxpayer money spent on an unnecessary vanity project when Americans are struggling with rising costs, housing shortages, healthcare expenses, and underfunded schools? Congress has a duty to safeguard taxpayer dollars. Spending nearly $15 million on a project that appears to be deteriorating almost immediately is the very definition of fiscal irresponsibility. The American people deserve transparency, accountability, and a full public investigation. Every dollar spent on this failed project must be examined, and those responsible must be held accountable.