Hoyer Announces $127.6 Million for FDA Consolidation Efforts at White Oak in House Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that the FY 2006 Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill, passed by the House of Representatives today, includes $127.6 million for the Food and Drug Administration to help complete a major construction project that will consolidate all FDA offices and labs into one state-of-the-art campus in White Oak, Maryland. The entire FDA consolidation project is expected to be completed in 2010 and will eventually provide office and research space for over 7,700 employees.

Congressman Hoyer is a senior member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee that funds federal building construction, and is the only member in the House of Representatives from Maryland on the powerful Appropriations Committee. He has been the lead advocate for this project in the House of Representatives. President Bush's budget for fiscal year 2004 proposed to eliminate funding for the FDA consolidation project, as a member of the Appropriations Conference Committee, Congressman Hoyer fought to retain $42 million in the final version of the legislation. Once the consolidation is completed, it will save the Federal government millions of dollars on an annual basis.

"I am pleased that we were able to secure an additional $127.6 million for the FDA consolidation project today – nearly $40 million more than was appropriated for this project last year. With these additional funds, a total of $442 million has been dedicated to this important project during the past seven fiscal years and has brought this consolidation closer to completion," said Congressman Hoyer. "When all is said and done, approximately 7,700 FDA employees will work at this major Federal Research Center. This campus will be filled with some of the nation's top researchers who will be working to ensure that prescription drugs, medical devices, and biological products are safe and effective.

"Not only will this building allow the FDA to conduct important and innovative research, but the facility will also provide job security for thousands of Maryland families located throughout the region and stability for our regional economy.

"I am fully committed to ensuring that our nation continues to invest in this project and to seeing it to its completion," added Hoyer.

The FDA has been trying to modernize and consolidate the 130-acre site of the former White Oak Naval Surface Warfare Center in Montgomery County for nearly 20 years. Since the 1995 Base Closure and Realignment Act closed the White Oak Naval Surface Warfare Center, Representative Hoyer has worked vigorously with his colleagues and the community to consolidate the FDA facilities at the former White Oak Naval Base.

Currently, FDA headquarters and program offices are scattered in over 40 buildings at 18 different locations throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. This funding will allow the construction of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health Office Building, Phase II of the Central Shared Use Auditorium, the design of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and construction of internal roads and bridges.

The Senate must pass the Fiscal Year 2006 Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill and then the differences in the two bills must be worked out in a Conference Committee before the bill may become law.

###