Top Oversight Dem demands info from Reflecting Pool contractors overseeing renovation
A U.S. Army National Guard troop stands watch at the Lincoln Memorial on June 08, 2026, in Washington, DC. Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been partially re-filled after the bottom of it was repainted as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to repair Washington landmarks in for preparation the country’s 250th birthday this summer. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee sent letters Wednesday to the contractors overseeing the renovation at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, requesting information such as contracts and water quality records.
The Reflecting Pool has been plagued with algae and peeling paint in the days since the Trump administration completed its renovation, which cost taxpayers more than $16 million.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., sent separate letters to the company hired to paint the reflecting pool and the company hired to remove the algae that later appeared in the pool.
“Donald Trump’s disastrous renovation of our national reflecting pool is his latest failed vanity project,” Garcia said in a statement. “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.”
The ranking member requested information by July 8, 2026, including the scope of the work, contract performance standards, communications with the National Park Service and amounts invoiced or paid.
Democrats, who are in the minority, do not have subpoena power to compel these contractors to hand over information or even respond.
Trump said this week the Reflecting Pool will be drained again for “permanent repair” around the Fourth of July and said that six people have now been arrested for alleged damage to the site. No charges had been filed in the alleged arrests.
The Interior Department and the U.S. Park Police have not responded to multiple outreaches for evidence of the alleged vandalism.
An exterior view of the U.S. Capitol on September 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The House on Tuesday followed the Senate in passing a sweeping housing reform package and sent the bipartisan measure to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
The vote in the House was 358-32. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act was brought up under suspension and reached the required two-thirds majority threshold for passage. The 32 no votes were all Republicans while all Democrats present voted in favor.
The Senate voted 85-5 to pass the bill a day earlier.
With midterm elections months away, Congress is taking noteworthy and rare bipartisan action to tackle one element of affordability, a talking point in races across the country this year.
The bill comes as a recent Zillow analysis found the cost of buying a starter home is $1 million or more in a record 242 cities across the country.
What is in the bill?
The legislation aims to address the nation’s housing shortage by increasing the supply of homes and overall homeownership. This is achieved through loosening regulations to encourage housing construction and limiting Wall Street investors’ ability to buy homes that could go to families instead.
A 2024 study from the government-sponsored housing enterprise Freddie Mac estimated that U.S. faces a shortfall of 3.7 million units contributing to its housing crisis.
The bill also provides grants to turn vacant buildings into affordable housing.
By increasing the supply of homes for sale, the legislation is intended to lower home costs for Americans.
What’s next for the bill?
The bill must go to the desk of President Donald Trump to become law.
Trump was slated to sign the legislation at noon on Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
He canceled the event a few hours before it was due to start, announcing his ultimatum on social media.
“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” the president wrote in a post.
Trump has insisted since March that he will not sign any legislation until the SAVE America Act is sent to his desk. In a social media post on March 8, Trump wrote that it “supersedes everything else.”
What did the bill’s supporters say about the housing act?
“Today’s vote proves that it is possible to find bipartisan common ground on legislation that actually helps the American people, and importantly, it proves that bipartisan legislation doesn’t have to be the weakest, most milquetoast agreement that doesn’t offend anyone or do too much to help anyone,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said on the Senate floor ahead of Monday’s vote.
“I don’t say this a lot, but today I’m proud to be a member of the United States Senate,” Warren said.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, discussed how the bill can give Americans more options on Monday.
“When you put more housing supply on the market, more people have a chance to become first-time homebuyers,” he said. “Today, the average first-time homebuyer is 40 years old. That is just too old.”
What did the bill’s opponents say about it?
Republican Sens. Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), Rick Scott (Fla.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) voted against the legislation. Over the weekend, Sen. Rick Scott explained his objection to the legislation, saying he can’t see how the government can drive down the cost of housing.
“What’s going to drive down the U.S. cost of housing, two things, if you balance a budget, interest rates are going to come down, one of the biggest with lousing,” Scott said on Fox News’ Saturday in America. “Number two, most of regulation with respect to housing is not the federal level. It’s at the local level, what cities and counties are doing. The federal government cannot drive the cost of housing down.”
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) walks to the Senate floor on Sept. 23, 2026, in Washington, DC. Collins is in a tight Senate race against Democrat Troy Jackson. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins is vehemently denying a ProPublica report out earlier this week that says the FBI targeted her in a corruption probe, saying “it’s clearly a political hit job.”
The ProPublica report said that a Republican consultant asked defense firm Navatek and its former CEO Martin Kao for big donations to her campaign in exchange for millions in federal contracts. In 2024, the FBI sought to launch an investigation into Collins and the donor, but when President Donald Trump returned to office for his second term, the investigation died after he made cuts to the FBI, the report stated.
ABC News has not independently confirmed the reporting by ProPublica. Kao did not speak with ProPublica for its story.
“The Biden Justice Department found that there was no wrongdoing by any one of my campaign staff, my office, or me,” the five-term Maine senator said on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. “This is absolutely outrageous. It’s clearly a political hit job.”
Annie Clark, Collins’ deputy chief of staff, said that the Biden administration, FBI and Department of Justice had “thoroughly investigated the Navatek matter.”
“The Collins campaign cooperated fully with the FBI throughout the investigation, producing all of the documents it requested and serving as fact witnesses in official settings,” Clark said in a statement on social media, adding that these “issues were resolved in 2021, and the FBI has not contacted us about Martin Kao since then.”
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told ProPublica that the agency had investigated the claims against Collins years ago “and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is totally false.”
Williamson did not respond to ProPublica’s questions about the alleged new, separate investigation launched in 2024.
Collins — who is running for reelection in the closely watched Maine Senate race, which could determine the balance of power in the upper chamber — said “it’s very frustrating and unfair to have it brought up this close to the election.”
Collins maintained that she learned the company was doing 3D printing research to build boats and were awarded the defense contracts because the Navy found its developments to be “valuable.”
“I’m telling you that this is completely false,” Collins said Tuesday of the ProPublica report’s allegations.
Clark on Tuesday also called the allegations in the report “categorically false.”
“The seven-year-old allegations made against Senator Collins and her staff in this piece are categorically false. There have never been any allegations of wrongdoing by the Collins for Senator campaign, and the campaign was never the target of the FBI investigation,” Clark wrote in a statement on social media.
Collins’ campaign manager, Steve Abbott, responded to the report and called the allegations false and outrageous.
“Not only false. I would say outrageous,” Abbott said.
Collins’ opponent in the Maine Senate race, Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, reacted to the report, saying “the jig is up.”
“This is corruption of the highest order,” Jackson wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
Asked for comment, PacMar Technologies — formerly known as Navatek — told ABC News that it’s “a victim.”
“The point here is that PacMar is a victim, like others, of Martin Kao’s illegal conduct and we have dedicated great time and expense in prosecuting Martin Kao and his cabal for their damage to our former company’s good name and reputation,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Trump has not commented on the ProPublica report.
ABC News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
The U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters is seen July 29, 2013, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Coast Guard and FBI are investigating after two oil tankers bound for the U.S. were hit with suspected cyberattacks last month, prompting American authorities to launch investigations into both incidents, sources told ABC News.
On Aug. 21, one of the tankers, described as a “foreign-flagged commercial vessel” was boarded by a “highly specialized team” of U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement officers, cyber protection members and an FBI cyber team in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a joint statement from both agencies.
“The measures were designed to ensure integrity of the vessel’s operational and information technology systems following indications that the vessel’s network were compromised by foreign cyber actors,” the statement said.
That vessel was in the Strait of Gibraltar when it was hacked, according to sources, and lost communication for over 30 hours.
The joint statement said the ship’s crew members cooperated with authorities and were “critical partners in helping to ensure the threats were mitigated” and concluded: “Currently, there are no reports of operational disruptions, vessel instability, physical danger to crews, or environmental impacts.”
Sources told ABC News that another tanker that was hit by a cyberattack was boarded by U.S. officials on Aug. 24. to conduct a similar assessment.
Authorities are investigating the possibility that Iran or another actor — seeking to exploit the ongoing conflict between Iran and U.S. — was involved in attacks, according to the sources.
“Currently, there are no reports of operational disruptions, vessel instability, physical danger to crews, or environmental impacts,” the joint statement released by the Coast Guard and FBI said.
