Norton Gets Additional Funding for Metro and St. Elizabeths, Blocks USDA Relocation Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that the final fiscal year 2019 Appropriations bill contains funding for her priorities for the District of Columbia, including over $175 million for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) consolidation at St. Elizabeths in Ward 8 and $150 million for Metro. The bill also includes conference report language calling for an indefinite halt to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) plans to relocate outside of D.C. the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Economic Research Service (ERS), as well as to reorganize the ERS under the Office of the Secretary, a political office.

The funds Norton secured for St. Elizabeths are the latest in a series of successful efforts to obtain funding for the megaproject, which has been the largest federal project in the country and the first federal building to be built east of the Anacostia River. To date, Norton has secured more than $2 billion for the consolidation project, which includes the headquarters for the U.S. Coast Guard, completed in 2013, along with ongoing construction of the office of the DHS Secretary and the DHS Operations Center, which will house the Office of Health Affairs Decision Support Center, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Joint Analysis Center, the Secret Service and the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Joint Operations Center. The $175 million for St. Elizabeths will ensure that the project continues.

The bill also contains $150 million for capital improvements for Metro, the 10th and last installment in a series of annual funds authorized under the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA). Norton helped the region secure language in PRIIA authorizing $1.5 billion over 10 years for capital costs for Metro. Norton's position as the newly-appointed Chair of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee uniquely positions her to lead in getting a reauthorization of PRIIA funding, which is needed to continue the rehabilitation of Metro.

Norton was also successful in getting report language blocking the USDA's plan to move the NIFA and ERS outside the District until additional information is provided. In September 2018, Norton and then-Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) sent a letter to USDA's Inspector General (IG) Phyllis K. Fong expressing opposition to the proposal to relocate and reorganize the agencies and asking her to examine the legality, rationale and process used to develop the USDA's proposal. In response to their request, the IG began a review of USDA's proposal in November 2018.

"We are very pleased with these results, particularly considering that we achieved them in a spending bill that was negotiated when Republicans controlled both Houses and the presidency," Norton said. "The continued progress of DHS consolidation at St. Elizabeths will not only result in significant cost savings for the federal government, but will also create opportunities for D.C. small businesses and jobs for residents of Ward 8. The funds for Metro ensure that it has the resources necessary to continue investing in the safety and optimal operation of our transit system. We are also very pleased that the House and Senate Appropriations Committees granted our request to include language halting the USDA's relocation and reorganization proposal. This is an important step toward safeguarding the integrity of our agricultural research and honoring the contributions of the over 700 federal employees affected by the proposal."