The U.S. embassy in Baghdad was awarded a whopping $444,000 to replace its indoor dehumidification system for its pool in a contract. (Reuters)
Taxpayers spent $41,259 to rehabilitate the pool at the U.S. embassy in Moscow in a contract inked three months after Russia invaded Ukraine in a war that has continued raging. The purchase order was dated June 3, 2022, through Aug. 15, 2022, after the war began in February that same year.
RUBIO SPEARHEADS MASSIVE STATE DEPT REORGANIZATION SET TO ELIMINATE, MERGE MORE THAN 300 OFFICES
President Biden's State Department awarded more than $1 million in taxpayer funds to rehabilitate swimming pools at U.S. embassies, according to a new report from Sen. Ernst's office. (Getty Images )
Some of the contracts detailed in the report have not been fully paid out, such as a $173,000 award to conduct work on a swimming pool in Indonesia at the embassy in Jakarta.
The federal government has previously been criticized for the amount of taxpayer funds spent on U.S. embassies overseas, including spending hefty sums on artwork under the Obama administration, Fox Digital reported at the time.
U.S. embassies are primarily funded through congressional appropriations to the U.S. Department of State.
Ernst's report follows months of the Department of Government Efficiency reporting it has saved the federal government billions of dollars amid its ongoing investigations into various federal agencies in search of corruption, overspending and mismanagement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been at the forefront of gutting departments and programs under State's purview, including shuttering USAID earlier in July for failing to ensure its programs actually supported America's interests.
RUBIO OVERHAULING 'BLOATED' STATE DEPARTMENT IN SWEEPING REFORM
Sen. Joni Ernst's office published a report in July finding that the Biden administration's State Department approved more than $1 million in contracts to renovate swimming pools at a handful of U.S. embassies in war-torn countries. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
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"This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies – and which advance American interests – will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency," Rubio said in comment regarding shuttering USAID.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-admin-spent-hefty-sum-us-tax-dollars-upgrade-embassy-swimming-pools-iraq-russia