Norton Announces $212 Million in Senate Appropriations for DHS Consolidation

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that the Senate fiscal year 2016 Homeland Security Appropriations bill includes $212 million for consolidation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters at St. Elizabeths. This is just $4 million less than the President's budget request for DHS. The bill was marked up by the full Senate Appropriations Committee today, and will be considered by the full Senate. The President requested an additional $380 million for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) contribution to the project, but the Senate has not yet released its fiscal year 2016 Financial Services and General Government bill, which funds GSA. Norton thanked Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS), Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman John Hoeven, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) for their deliberation and the requisite funding.

"I am grateful for this bipartisan Senate funding, which I believe indicates their understanding that the DHS consolidation is vital to the nation's security and that Congress has invested so much in the project that we will only lose money by slowing it down any further," Norton said. "Moreover, GSA and DHS have worked hard over the last year on the Enhanced Master Plan that now adds very considerable cost-savings to the project. With today's funding, the footprint will fit thousands of more employees on the main West campus, will eliminate several costly leases, and will cut construction time by five years."

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security has not acted on DHS consolidation funding.

With the $144 million Norton got in the fiscal year 2015 omnibus appropriations bill for DHS Consolidation at St. Elizabeths and for GSA to make infrastructure improvements there, construction is already underway for the Center Building, which will house the DHS Secretary and up to 900 of his staff. In addition, a new access road to support federal employee traffic into St. Elizabeths will be completed by May 2017. In May, the National Park Service transferred eight acres located in Shepherd Parkway to make these infrastructure improvements after Norton requested that the transfer be expedited.