Hoyer Participates in Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for New FDA Facility at White Oak
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. On June 30, the House of Representatives passed the Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill that includes $127.6 million for this project. Following are Congressman Hoyer's remarks as prepared for delivery:
"The progress being made here today is the result of a strong commitment and partnership between the Food and Drug Administration, the General Services Administration and the local community.
"The results of our efforts continue to highlight how effective we all can be when we work together to realize a dream. Today, 125 FDA employees are now working in the Life Sciences Laboratory we dedicated nearly a year and half ago. Construction is now underway on the Central Shared Use Facility on the site on which we broke ground last year.
"Today, we dedicate the largest and probably the most critical building in the consolidation: the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. It is no exaggeration to say the very purpose of FDA will be clearly manifest in this facility.
"This office building will house many of the critical offices that make up FDA's work and with 1,750 FDA employees ready to occupy, we are on track to get all of FDA into this state-of-the-art complex.
"No longer will FDA employees have to travel from the far reaches of the metropolitan region to confer, to assemble, and coordinate in the work of the FDA. They will have a central location in which to share their research, consult and learn from one another, and present their findings.
"During my tenure as Ranking Member of the Treasury-Postal Appropriations Subcommittee and senior member of what is now called the Transportation-Treasury Subcommittee, I was proud to work to secure more than $300 million over the last 6 years for this critical FDA consolidation.
"I am also proud to report that the FY06 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill we passed in the House in June included $127.6 million to complete the next critical phase of the consolidation.
"When all is said and done, some 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.
"Consolidating FDA's offices and laboratories here at White Oak will allow some of the world's top researchers to move out of dilapidated working conditions and into state-of-the-art facilities here on this campus. In fact, this consolidation will also create efficiencies by eliminating the need for more than 40 buildings at 18 different sites throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan region.
"Great things are happening at the FDA. In addition to the consolidation here at White Oak, the FDA finished its Center for Veterinary Medicine in Beltsville in 1996, and most recently, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in College Park in 2001. These FDA facilities will strengthen one of the most powerful research corridors in the country.
"With the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, the FDA Food and Safety Laboratory in College Park, the Veterinary Medicine Center in Beltsville, the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, the ATF Laboratory in Beltsville, this region lays claim to some of the finest researchers, academicians, and scientists in the world.
"I applaud the service of the FDA employees, and I hope this new building will, in some small way, remind you that the American people appreciate your service to our Nation. When this consolidation is completed, it will be a marvelous achievement for the federal government and this community."
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Office Building I
The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) Office Building I is the second phase of construction for FDA's consolidation into the Federal Research Center at White Oak and the largest building on the planned complex. Approximately 1,750 people will work in this facility.
With 551,000 gross feet of office space, it will accommodate CDER's new Office of New Drug Evaluation and its support functions, including information management and technology, training and library activities.
Other offices that will be housed in the CDER office building include the: Office of the Center Director; Office of Executive Operations; Office of Medical Policy; Office of Regulatory Policy; Office of Counter Terrorism and Pediatric Drug Development; Office of Pharmacoepidemiology and Statistical Science; and Office of Pharmaceutical Science.
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