Wastebook - Senator Tom Coburn - U.S. Senate

Wastebook 201328. We Want a Shrubbery! Gardening and landscaping services at the Brusselshome of the NATO Ambassador – (State) $704, 198In Congressional hearings on the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, StateDepartment officials have testified that “consistent shortfalls have required the department toprioritize funding out of security accounts…the funds provided were inadequate.” 346So what items are a higher priority than security for embassies and diplomats?The State Department spent $704,198 on gardening and landscaping services at the 28-acre Brusselshome of the U.S. Ambassador to NATO. 347Included in the purchase were 960 violas, 960 tulips, 960 begonias, 72 Japanese evergreen shrubs, 504ivy geraniums, 168 hybrid heath evergreen shrubs, 204 American wintergreens, and 60 English ivyshrubs. 348According to a State Department spokesperson, the official residence, named Truman Hall, “regularlyhosts visitors from the 28 NATO nations and other Alliance partner countries around the world and isa valuable platform for America’s diplomacy.” 349The spokesperson also stated the contract awarded to Iris Greencare, a Belgian company, was thelowest technically acceptable price. 350 Perhaps the sequestration cuts influenced the StateDepartment to set the maximum amount of solicitation to $500,000 for gardening and landscaping atthe U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. 7351 The value remains to be determined for the solicitations forbotanical diplomacy at U.S. Embassies in Santiago, Chile; Maseru, Lesotho; and Bangkok, Thailand. 848