The FBI headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, DC (photo of Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
Washington -The US appropriation committee of the Senate removed the language on Thursday from one of its annual state financing calculations that would have prevented the Trump administration from changing the FBI headquarters as a previously selected location in a suburb of Maryland outside of Washington, DC
The change naturally came a week after the committee agreed for a change From the democratic senator of Maryland, Chris van Hollen, the FBI would have prevented the FBI from moving to the Ronald Reagan building, which is a few blocks from the crumbling DC headquarters of the agency.
The Republican senator of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, voted with the Democrats of the Committee for the approval of the change application, but quoted security concerns to oppose him after talking to the FBI director Kash Patel.
“I am satisfied that my questions had been answered. I still have reservations about the move. I will be honest with you,” said Murkowski. “But I don’t think we should include the FBI to the Greenbelt -Ort -what this change would do.”
Murkwoski said that General Services Administration, who managed federal property and selected the location in Maryland in Maryland, had selected the Reagan building after completing a first assessment. However, a third has not yet completed his security check.
Murkowski warned the Trump administration against moving quickly to move the FBI headquarters, and said that she was “not convinced that we have enough information to know that the Ronald Reagan building will ultimately be the best place.”
Safety analysis incomplete
Van Hollen said that he believes that the committee should “save” decisions that the congress has already met and obtained that the Reagan building has not passed any security analysis.
“This was a long, non -partisan process,” said van Hollen. “And when we received the request for new programming from the FBI, I hoped that we would say on a two -party basis:” No, we will not accept your reprogramming request because it will fly for many years of support for the long -term two -party support for this process. “
Van Hollen reminded the members of the committee that the first Trump government hired the efforts to select a location outside of Washington, DC, and instead suggested keeping the FBI headquarters in the same place.
The General Inspector of the FBI later published a report Conclusion “The revised plan contained ambiguous security information for the facility and contained certain other security information known from the FBI for the facility, which created an inadequate and unclear summary of the security position of the proposed new facility.”
Van Hollen said on Thursday that he was not convinced that the Reagan building can meet the security requirements that the congress has to work together with a recent FBI headquarters.
Van Hollen also commented on frustrated that he was not included in the meeting between some Republican Senators and the FBI director, and prevented him from changing from the former GSA location in Maryland to the recent GSA location within the Reagan building.
If van Hollen’s change in the annual Finance Act had remained trade and justice departments, the legislation would probably have prevented it from pulling on the ground. Instead, the committee voted 20-9 for the approval of the measure.
The congress is scheduled to complete the work on the dozen bills at the beginning of the next financial year on October 1, but is clearly behind the schedule And needs a cross -party stop gap edition calculation to avoid shutdown.
Fight for the move
The federal government has discussed The best place for a recent FBI headquarters for well over a decade, while the current office space in the J. Edgar Hoover building is further deteriorated.
For years, the GSA has been between three potential locations in Maryland and Virginia Before the selection Greenbelt, Maryland, in November 2023.
But the Trump administration Announced at the beginning of this month Instead, it wanted to apply the Reagan building and said that money would save money.
“The existing headquarters of the FBI in the Hoover building is a perfect example of a government building that has accumulated for years and suffered from an aging water system that falls from the structure,” wrote Stephen Ehikian, acting administrator from GSA.
The Reagan building Holds numerous other offices Including the Ministry of Commerce, customs and border protection, the environmental protection authority, the National Children’s Museum and several private companies.
The announcement showed that the administration could shift customs and border protection.
“The GSA will continue to support and work with CBP and its agency partners to fulfill their mission while the FBI’s transition to the Reagan building begins,” the explanation says.
However, it did not include a timeline or a price tag.
