Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Interior Department says more than $55 million in economic stimulus money will be used to fix the crumbling National Mall, even though money for mall renovations was removed during congressional debate on the stimulus package this winter.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday that $750 million in stimulus money will go to restore and repair national parks, including about $30 million to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, $18 million to repair a Jefferson Memorial sea wall and $7.3 million to restore the District of Columbia War Memorial.

In January, majority Democrats removed $200 million in stimulus funding that had been targeted for the Mall, after Republicans criticized it as an example of wasteful spending.

An Interior Department spokesman said he was not sure how the money for the mall renovations was restored.