by ELISSA SALAMY, The National Desk

Originally posted at RealClearPolicy.com

WASHINGTON (SBG) - Renovations at the United Nations building in Manhattan cost nearly a billion dollars over budget, according to government watchdog group Open The Books.

"The American taxpayer has been very generous with the United Nations," said Open The Books' Adam Andrzejewski to Jan Jeffcoat on The National Desk. “In 2005, this project was budgeted initially at $1.2 billion.”

According to Open the Books, construction ended in 2017 at a total price tag of $2.3 billion.

In 2005, Donald Trump shared his opinion on the project’s cost at a Congress hearing.

“This project of $1.2 billion will cost, in my opinion, $3 billion,” said Trump. “In my real opinion, it should cost approximately $700 million dollars.”

Andrzejewski says Trump thought the price of the architect - $44 million - was “ridiculous.”

“He said he would do the United Nations only for $400 million. He would work for free,” said Andrzejewski.

Andrzejewski says that taxpayer dollars are spent on wasteful projects “all the time.”

“Government isn’t a good steward of taxpayer dollars,” said Andrzejewski. “Our auditors, we looked at the Obama administration at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and we found that they spent $100 million on brand new luxury high-end furniture.