A U.S. Senate committee muddied the waters on Thursday over the Trump administration’s plans to move the FBI headquarters into a different government-owned building in Washington, D.C.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined minority Democrats on the Appropriations Committee to block funding for moving the FBI headquarters to any site other than a previously chosen site in Maryland, according to The Hill.
The Maryland site was chosen during the Biden administration in 2023, and funding had been allocated for site acquisition and the move.
But President Donald Trump opposes relocating the FBI main offices so far away from the seat of government power in the capital and especially being separated by such a distance from the Department of Justice.
The Trump administration decided it would be better to move the FBI from the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building into the Ronald Reagan Building not far from the White House.
Senate Democrats, however, continue to favor the Greenbelt site in Maryland. The Hill reported that Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told the committee that he didn’t feel the Trump team had done its homework.
“No analysis done with respect to security requirements, no analysis done with respect to FBI mission requirements, no review of the underlying statute as to the purpose of the Ronald Reagan Building, no analysis of what they would do with current tenants in that building,” argued Van Hollen.
Murkowski commented about her vote to keep the Maryland site targeted for the FBI in a way that seemed she could change her mind if analysis showed the Reagan Building was the better choice.
“My understanding is that this has been a decision that was made just very recently. I, for one, would like to know that this analysis has actually been going on for more than just a couple months, that there’s actually been that effort to ensure that we’re going to move forward,” said Murkowski.
There has been no clear path for the FBI headquarters since Trump was inaugurated for his second term in the White House. FBI Director Kash Patel said in May that personnel located at the bureau headquarters would be moved to FBI regional offices spread throughout the country.
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