The Biden administration’s State Department approved more than $1 million in taxpayer-funded swimming pool renovations at U.S. embassies and residences in war‑torn nations, a report from Sen. Joni Ernst’s office revealed. Projects in Haiti, Iraq, Sudan, and even Moscow moved forward while those countries faced chaos and conflict, raising new questions about Washington’s spending priorities.
“The Biden State Department threw a blowout summer pool party on your dime,” Ernst, (R‑Iowa), said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Her report detailed shocking figures: $444,000 for a Baghdad pool dehumidification system, $41,259 for Moscow pool rehabilitation just months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and $24,000 for a pool deck in Sudan despite a State Department travel advisory citing “armed conflict, civil unrest, crime, terrorism, and kidnapping.”
Other contracts included $10,000 for mechanical repairs in Erbil, Iraq, and a $173,000 project still pending in Jakarta, Indonesia. In total, Ernst’s investigation found more than $1.2 million spent on leisure projects abroad at a time when Americans are facing record inflation and security challenges.
“I am sick and tired of taxpayers getting tossed in the deep end by Washington,” Ernst added. “I will continue working with the Trump administration to put a stop to the splashy spending of the Biden years.” Her remarks echo Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s pledge to cut waste: “This era of government‑sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end.”
