The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment Thursday to keep $1.4 billion in funds reserved for building the FBI’s new headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland, complicating President Donald Trump’s plans to relocate the agency to downtown Washington, D.C.
The amendment, introduced by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), passed 15-14, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joining committee Democrats to secure its passage.
“I was pleased the Appropriations Committee passed my amendment on a bipartisan basis to prohibit the Administration from using these funds for any purpose other than the relocation of the headquarters to Greenbelt, Maryland,” Van Hollen wrote in a statement released Thursday.
The General Services Administration originally selected Greenbelt as the site for the bureau’s new headquarters in 2023, according to the Associated Press, but on July 1 the agency and the FBI announced plans to instead move the headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.
[Maryland officials oppose plans to keep FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.]
The FBI’s headquarters are currently located on Pennsylvania Avenue in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which was established in 1975, according to the Associated Press.
In a statement released July 1, the General Services Administration and the FBI said constructing a new campus in Greenbelt would be a long and costly process, which is why they changed course and opted for “existing federal property.”
Van Hollen criticized the move in his statement Thursday, calling it “an unauthorized use of funds” and “a dangerous precedent for executive overreach into Congress’s power of the purse.”
“The [Trump] Administration has also not provided any information around the total cost of the project or whether it will meet the Bureau’s security needs,” he added.
Maryland lawmakers responded positively to the approval of Van Hollen’s amendment, which prevents the Trump administration from using funds to build the FBI headquarters anywhere other than Greenbelt.
[Trump opposes plan to build new FBI headquarters in Greenbelt]
District 3 Prince George’s County council member Eric Olson said he supported the committee’s decision to preserve funds for a future Greenbelt site and applauded Van Hollen for his leadership in the matter.
“Maryland remains the right location for the new FBI Headquarters,” Olson wrote in a statement to The Diamondback.
In a separate statement, District 2 Prince George’s County council member Wanika Fisher wrote that she felt “relieved” and “inspired” by the committee’s action.
“The relocation of the J. Edgar Hoover Building to Greenbelt was an informed and strategic decision made by the General Services Administration in 2023 to lower upkeep costs, increase transportation access and advance the FBI’s corporate social governance and sustainability goals,” she wrote.
Despite the outcome of Thursday’s vote, the site of the bureau’s new base ultimately remains undecided because the broader funding bill that Van Hollen’s amendment was attached to has not yet passed the appropriations committee nor the full Senate, according to The Washington Post.
“I will continue working with my colleagues to come to an agreement to protect Congress’s intent for the use of these funds,” Van Hollen wrote in his statement.
