Reflecting Pool Repair Row

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Sunday the Trump administration will not seek new bids to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and will use the same contractor that installed the “American flag blue” sealant under a multimillion-dollar no-bid contract. Burgum said vandals cut multiple gashes in the pool’s industrial liner totaling about 350 feet along the sloped edge of the 7-acre pool. He defended the project as successful, said algae had been “in the pipes” and was gone, and said repair costs would be “a small number.”