Letter to the Hon. Rodney Frelinghuysen, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the Hon. Nita Lowey, Ranking Member - Ensure GSA and FBI Move Forward with an Alternative Plan for the Consolidated FBI Headquarters Relocation Project

Letter

Dear Chairman Frelinghuysen and Ranking Member Lowey:

A new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) remains a top priority for federal, state, and local leaders even with yesterday's announcement that the General Services Administration (GSA) has cancelled the current request for proposal for the project. We write in strong support of Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger's amendment, which would strike language from the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations legislation for Fiscal Year 2018 that sought to rescind $200 million from the FBI headquarters project. Rescinding these funds, even in the project's current state, would be unwise and detrimental to our national security. Further delay of the project could cost taxpayers up to $100 million in required upgrades to maintain the J. Edgar Hoover Building as well as escalating costs of the project.

The Fiscal Year 2017 Consolidated Omnibus Appropriations Act included a commitment from Congress to fund the balance of the project in Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations. The joint explanatory statement for the Fiscal Year 2017 omnibus legislation stated: "It is the intent of Congress to provide funding in fiscal year 2018 necessary for the project to proceed expeditiously." In addition, Rep. Hoyer spoke with Chairman John Culberson of the Commerce, Science, and Justice Subcommittee as well as former Chairman Ander Crenshaw of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee about the importance of this project to our national security. However, neither the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill nor the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2018 includes any additional funding for this project, and, in fact, the Financial Services bill seeks to rescind funding for it. Doing so will leave the FBI lacking the modern facilities and state of the art resources needed to effectively carry out its critical mission.

The FBI headquarters project has been a bipartisan project, beginning under President George W. Bush and continuing into the Administration of President Barack Obama. The General Services Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have all sent reports to Congress concluding that the existing J. Edgar Hoover Building does not meet the FBI's needs. The GAO stated that the Hoover Building does "not fully support the FBI's long-term security, space, and building condition requirements." Rescinding these funds forces the FBI to stay in a building that is literally crumbling around them for the foreseeable future.

We ask that you work with us to ensure that the GSA and the FBI work quickly to come up with an alternative plan to move this project forward. Given the many national security challenges that our country faces, we need to ensure that the FBI has the resources it needs to carry out its work.

Sincerely,

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