Norton Announces Funding for Ward 8 DHS Construction Project

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she was grateful for the $34.5 million that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security put into its fiscal year 2013 appropriations bill for the continued construction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters on the St Elizabeths campus in Ward 8. Of the $34.5 million, $24.5 million of that is for moving the Coast Guard to the St Elizabeths campus, and $10 million is for infrastructure on the site. Norton noted that the amount is far less than the $89 million President Obama set aside for the project in his fiscal year 2013 DHS budget, but that it is a significant step forward considering that the House zeroed out the project in its bill last year.

Norton said, "I am happy that even the House, which is cutting everything and pushing for a lower overall spending number than the Senate, understands that this project should not stall. They have appropriated enough to keep the project moving, but I will be speaking with Senators in the hope for an amount closer to the President's request." She said that the DHS appropriations bill makes it clear that, even though the project has slowed, it will be completed.

Norton has already obtained more than $1 billion for the project, which has put D.C. residents to work. Since construction began on the Coast Guard headquarters at St. Elizabeths, 22% of the workers hired by contractor Clark Construction have been D.C. residents. Norton, who is ranking member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, is meeting with the federal contractors responsible for other federal construction projects in D.C., and ensuring they are upholding their good faith efforts to hire District workers.

Published: May 9, 2012