By Steve Neavling
The FBI’s push to relocate its headquarters to downtown Washington, D.C. cleared a major hurdle Thursday after a key Senate committee approved a funding shift that would scrap long-standing plans for a new suburban campus in Maryland.
In a party-line vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee backed the FBI’s request to use $555 million, which was originally set aside for a new facility in Greenbelt, Maryland, to instead move into the Ronald Reagan Building, just blocks from the Justice Department, The Hill reports.
The Trump administration unveiled the plan this month, scrapping a 15-year effort to build a standalone campus outside the city. Maryland lawmakers, who spent years fighting for the suburban site, blasted the move as a political ploy that ignores security assessments and economic benefits tied to the Greenbelt location.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., had won a temporary victory last week when Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined Democrats to block the funding shift. But on Thursday, Murkowski reversed course, saying she had since been briefed by FBI Director Kash Patel and was told the General Services Administration recommended the Reagan Building move.
Van Hollen said he wasn’t invited to the briefing and accused the FBI of circumventing Congress by redirecting money already approved for the Maryland site.
The Hoover Building has been plagued by structural and security issues for years. The relocation effort, which began under President George W. Bush, has spanned four administrations.
