The U.S. House Appropriations Committee, at the behest of MAGA Republicans, voted Thursday to advance legislation that strips funding for a new FBI headquarters building, continuing the recent run of anti-law enforcement zeal on the part of those on that side of the aisle.
The move comes after Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who this week made a show of being tough on Trump-appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray, floated the idea of examining options for moving the FBI headquarters out of the National Capital Region, suggesting as a possibility building onto existing FBI infrastructure in place in Huntsville, Ala.
The Virginia congressional delegation has made a case for the final selection of a site in Springfield to be home to the new headquarters, but without funding for the relocation process in this year’s appropriations legislation, the future of the effort remains to be determined.
Three Virginia Democrats – Jennifer Wexton, Don Beyer and Gerry Connolly – issued a statement on Thursday condemning the odd Republican push.
The statement:
“The Virginia delegation has repeatedly opposed and condemned interference in the independent, agency-run effort to build a new FBI headquarters.
“We are finally near the end of a decade-long procurement process that will get the men and women of our nation’s premier law enforcement agency out of the crumbling Hoover Building. Now is not the time to play petty politics. Yet MAGA Republicans, led by Jim Jordan, are weaponizing the federal government to push an extremely partisan and unpopular agenda to ‘Defund the FBI.’
“Despite the extreme right’s total control of Speaker McCarthy and the House agenda, we are determined to continue fighting to deliver the resources the FBI needs to complete its headquarters relocation process. This includes defending the project from all political interference.”
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Chris Graham
