Hoyer: Show Us the Plan to Keep Our People Secure
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05), Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered remarks on the House Floor in support of his amendment to the FY 2026 FSGG Appropriations bill that would ensure the General Services Administration (GSA), in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), submits a contracted and completed architectural and engineering plan for the Ronald Reagan Building to ensure any future FBI Headquarters meets the highest security tier for federal buildings. Below are video and transcript of his remarks:
Click here to watch a video of his remarks.
"I thank the gentlelady for her comments, and I thank her for her support of my amendment, and I regret that my amendment was rejected by the Rules Committee. But, that is not uncommon. An overwhelming majority of Democratic amendments are rejected irrespective of merit, and I suggest to you that this amendment comports with the debate that I heard in the Rules Committee [hearing] yesterday. And the substance of that debate was, ‘We need oversight. We need to make sure that we know what we're doing.' We need to make sure that what the Administration or any administration is asking for comports with the policies of the Congress of the United States. If we defeat the previous question, we will offer an amendment to the rule that allows the House to simply consider an amendment concerning the FBI headquarters. And I will speak more on that matter later, of course, but I'm deeply concerned that moving the FBI to the Reagan Building, as this Administration plans to do, would greatly undermine the FBI's security.
"This is a picture of the Murrah building in Oklahoma in 1995. A guy named McVeigh drove a step van up to the street of the Murrah building and blew it up, killing 168 people, injuring over 800 people. (Points to poster) That is a major artery in front of the Murrah building. The Reagan Building was designed as an open and public-private building – let me see the Reagan Building – as a public-private building with public access, public accommodation, [the] public coming into the building for eating. It has a big cafeteria. It has a big parking lot that the public uses and is used by City Hall, which is located right in the middle – or not in the middle, but surrounded by the Reagan Building. The amendment that I have simply says, ‘Let's not spend any money on moving the F.B.I. to this building' – which the Murrah building makes very clear, and is why the FBI Director came to me in 2009 to have this facility, the FBI building, moved to a place where you can have security.
"We have some numbers of security organizations. They are all located either in the suburbs or at Bolling Air Force Base. Bolling Air Force Base, of course, is a secured piece of much, much acreage and so they are not subject to that risk. All of these agencies, including the CIA at Langley, including other agencies, four of which are in Virginia, are so that those agencies can be as secure as we can possibly make them and we will not lose people – FBI agents, CIA agents, NSA agents, whoever – and that we will have those facilities in a secure place. And all this amendment says [is]: ‘Show us the plan to keep our people secure.’ [As] the gentlelady, my friend from North Carolina, said, and I believe she's accurate, we're all concerned about the lives of people, be they government employees or not.
"This amendment says, ‘Present us the information, GSA and FBI, that shows us that, in fact, you can make the Reagan building safe for a security agency.' If the motion is defeated for the previous question, we will offer that simple amendment and give everybody in this Congress the ability to stand up and say, ‘Yes, we want to know information before we make this critical decision.’ It's not partisan, it's not ideological. It is simply doing what the Congress is responsible to do, and that is have oversight and make judgments based upon the best information they can receive. One additional minute? In closing, let me emphasize that this is consistent with what all of us say and was said in the committee yesterday. Miss Houchin said it particularly well, and others on the committee said they want the information necessary to make solid decisions. If we adopt my amendment, that will accomplish that objective. I urge my colleagues to vote against the previous question and for the Hoyer amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time."