Ranking Member Hoyer: This Ill-Conceived Effort to move the FBI into the Reagan Building is Indicative of the Dysfunction that Exists at GSA

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05), Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered opening remarks at the during the House Committee on Appropriations Oversight Hearing on the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) with Director David Marroni. Below are a video and transcript of his remarks:

Click here to watch a video of his remarks

"Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank Mr. Marroni for being here and joining us today. We've heard much discussion of improving government efficiency and reducing waste this past year. All of us should share that objective. Although I have serious doubts about the Administration's commitment to those goals, we all ought to agree that those objectives ought to govern how we administer our federal real estate portfolio. We want to make sure we have the right amount of space and the right type of space for our federal employees to do their jobs on behalf of the American people as effectively and as safely as possible. I always say we need to rightsize the government, not increase - decrease, but rightsize for the job that we give them. I recognize that's no easy task, as I'm sure Director Marroni would agree, but it is also clear that the General Services Administration management of our federal real estate is wanted in some cases. I'd like to quote from [the] Inspector General's report that was released just this week, and I have that report here and I imagine you brought it with you. I'd like to quote from that: 'GSA is not consistently addressing deficient security fixtures at the GSA control facility, and as a result, is leaving the public, employees and property at risk from security threats.' That finding ought to concern every Member of this committee and this House. Much of that report was redacted, but it indicated that - I presume, for security reasons itself - but it is indicated the GSA failure to meet this crucial responsibility was due in part to the immense cost of installing and maintaining security measures. To see the perils of this issue, just look down Pennsylvania Avenue.

"The Trump Administration is trying to move the FBI headquarters from the dilapidated and falling down J. Edgar Hoover building to the Reagan Building just a little way away. Moving the FBI out of one old, exposed, and inadequate building into another old, exposed, and inadequate building is not a solution. When former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who just died, approached me in 2009 about finding a new home for the FBI, he emphasized that the Bureau needed a new, secure, and consolidated facility on a large campus. The Reagan Building fails to meet the FBI security and operational issues. It was not designed as a secure law enforcement facility, rather, emphatically, as an open, accessible office for both public and private tenants. As a matter of fact, I have an article here that reflects that objective. To use the words of Paycom Fred and Partners, the architectural firm that designed the facility, quote, 'The Reagan Building emphasizes access and permeability. Access and probability are great features of an international trade center, which the Reagan Building was designed to fulfill, but not a law enforcement and intelligence agency.' An article in Chicago Tribune, published about the building in 1997, noted the very fact. It said, 'The Reagan Building, quote, will open the standoffish domain of the federal bureaucracy to the city and teach an important lesson to the post Oklahoma City bombing era, when the temptation is to turn all government buildings into impressive fortresses.' But the FBI headquarters needs to be impregnable.

"Even if the Reagan Building were not located between two major thoroughfares, 14th Street and Pennsylvania, it still would not meet Inter-Agency Security Committee facilities security level standards. The GSA says it will take at least $1.5 billion to retrofit the building. But anyone familiar with the GSA knows that project. These always cost much more, and the Architect of the Capitol said it would be cheaper to build a fourth building for the House than to locate Members while repairs are being made to Rayburn into the Madison Building. This ill-conceived effort to move the FBI into the Reagan Building is indicative of the dysfunction that exists at GSA. Director Marroni, I'm going to be asking you some questions as I told you I would. And I imagine you share some of these concerns which are reflected in this report as issues contributed to the mismanagement of our federal real estate. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have 13 seconds and I'll yield back."