President Donald Trump has said the Obama and Biden administrations “spent hundreds of millions of dollars” trying, and failing, to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Weighed against the reported federal spending figures, the claim does not hold up.
What the figures show
The overhaul of the pool during Barack Obama's term cost about $35 million, as documented by FactCheck.org, CNN and PBS NewsHour from federal spending records. There is no record of major work on the pool during Joe Biden's term. Trump separately said Obama spent “way over $100 million,” several times the documented figure.
The current administration has spent about $14 million to repaint and seal the bottom of the pool, which has a long history of leaks, as reported from the publicly available federal contract.
Our verdict: Exaggerated
The spending figures in that reporting — roughly $35 million under Obama, and no major work on record under Biden — are far below the “hundreds of millions” the president described. On the evidence, Red Light Grid rates the claim Exaggerated. The professional fact-checkers at FactCheck.org and CNN reached the same conclusion.
Why it matters
The reflecting-pool figures have appeared in the administration's public messaging about work on national monuments. The gap between the stated numbers and the documented costs is the kind of detail that shapes how the public understands federal spending — which is why we checked it.