The Trump administration’s proposed spending plan for the coming fiscal year does not include any funding for the FBI’s stalled headquarters project and comes short of what’s needed for the Department of Homeland Security’s consolidation at St. Elizabeths in Washington, two significant setbacks for the D.C. region in the president’s spending proposal for 2018.
The General Services Administration, overseeing both headquarters projects, would get $10.5 billion under the administration’s 2018 budget. That includes $135 million for the DHS consolidation at the St. E’s West campus in Southeast D.C. — short of the $267 million President Barack Obama included in his 2017 budget proposal, which did not become law.
The budget proposal released Tuesday, which follows a briefer blueprint President Donald Trump announced in March, was immediately met with harsh criticism from lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., who called the proposal “dead on arrival.” It remains to be seen whether Congress will step in to include additional financial aid for the FBI or DHS headquarters projects.
Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation have pledged to include additional funding for the FBI’s consolidation in their proposed 2018 budget after the project received less than was needed as part of the federal government’s 2017 omnibus funding bill. The GSA has put the project on hold pending additional funding.
