A new report from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
reveals
that the Biden administration’s State Department approved more than $1.2 million in taxpayer-funded contracts to renovate swimming pools at U.S. embassies and diplomatic residences — many located in unstable and war-torn countries, including Iraq, Sudan, and Haiti.
“The Biden State Department threw a blowout summer pool party on your dime,” Ernst said in a statement to
Fox News Digital
. “Bureaucrats might think wasting millions is a drop in the bucket, but I am sick and tired of taxpayers getting tossed in the deep end by Washington.”
Ernst said she plans to work with the Trump administration to curb what she called “splashy spending” tied to the Biden years.
According to Ernst’s findings, the State Department authorized renovations for two pools in Haiti, five in Iraq, three in Sudan, and one each in Russia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana. The New York Post first reported the funding breakdown on Thursday.
Among the most expensive projects: a $444,000 contract for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to replace an indoor pool dehumidification system.
Meanwhile
, the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq, received over $10,000 for mechanical repairs on its pool.
In Moscow — just three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the embassy spent $41,259 to rehabilitate its swimming pool. That purchase order was signed between June and August 2022, after the war had already begun in February.
Even Sudan, where the U.S. State Department currently advises Americans not to travel due to violent conflict and civil unrest, received $24,000 for a new pool deck at the Khartoum embassy in 2021. The embassy there suspended operations in 2023 amid
escalating
violence.
Some projects remain in progress, including a $173,000 contract for pool work at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Criticism over spending on U.S. diplomatic posts overseas isn’t new. Previous administrations — including under President Obama — were scrutinized for spending on high-priced artwork and luxury amenities at embassy sites.
Senator Ernst’s report comes as part of broader Republican efforts to crack down on federal waste and mismanagement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, recently appointed under the Trump administration, has led a sweeping overhaul of the
department
, including shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in early July.
“This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end,” Rubio said. “Under the Trump administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission that prioritizes American interests.”
Rubio added that going forward, foreign
assistance
programs will be managed by the State Department with “greater accountability, strategy, and efficiency.”
U.S. embassies and their facilities are funded primarily through congressional appropriations to the State Department.
