Norton Sends Letter to President Obama Requesting St. Elizabeths Funding in FY 2016 Budget

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has written President Barack Obama requesting he include in his fiscal year 2016 budget continued funding for the construction of the consolidated headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the St. Elizabeths campus in Ward 8 in the District of Columbia. Norton thanked the President for his strong commitment in the past to the St. Elizabeths project; he included funding in his fiscal year 2015 budget ensuring that the DHS Secretary and his 700-person staff will be able to move to the Center Building and its surrounding buildings.

In the letter, Norton writes: "The fiscal year 2015 appropriation was especially appreciated because it ensures that the DHS Secretary and his 700-person staff will be able to move to the Center Building and its surrounding buildings. In an era of new concerns about terrorism, we ask that you move to quickly complete this project."

Two weeks ago, the House approved $48.6 million for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) consolidation at St. Elizabeths in the fiscal year 2015 DHS Appropriations bill. An additional $144 million for DHS consolidation at St. Elizabeths and the surrounding infrastructure improvements were included in the fiscal year omnibus funding bill, which was enacted into law in December. This funding ensures the completion of structures around the Center building complex, which will house the DHS secretary and top DHS officials.

The full text of the letter is below:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are very grateful for the commitment you have shown to a new, necessary consolidated headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the St. Elizabeths campus in Ward 8 in the District of Columbia. Your fiscal year 2015 budget included critical funding to continue consolidation. The fiscal year 2015 appropriation was especially appreciated because it ensures that the DHS Secretary and his 700-person staff will be able to move to the Center Building and its surrounding buildings. In an era of new concerns about terrorism, we ask that you move to quickly complete this project.

The presence of the Secretary at St. Elizabeths makes necessary that the government move to more rapidly consolidate the headquarters and reduce costly, far-flung leased space for federal agencies. Now that the Coast Guard headquarters building is complete and agency employees are housed in a new building, it is critical to fund infrastructure improvements to accommodate the large number of employees scheduled to come to the campus.

When complete, the consolidated headquarters will increase efficiency by allowing the federal government to co-locate over 14,000 DHS employees who are now scattered in 40 locations throughout the region and to replace expensive leased space by moving agencies into government-owned space, directing lease revenue to the Federal Buildings Fund, which uses agency rental payments to fund the construction and maintenance of federal real estate instead of private real estate. With new employee footprint requirements, it is possible the consolidated headquarters could house as many as 20,000 DHS employees. In addition, the construction of the consolidated headquarters will continue to generate thousands of construction jobs, with 40 percent of the subcontracts going to small and disadvantaged businesses. Unfortunately, the reduction in appropriations for the project has increased the total project cost by millions of dollars, because of the loss of integrated construction sequencing, as well as the cost of lease holdovers and short-term lease extensions for agencies that were expecting to move to the headquarters between 2013 and 2017. Any further reductions in appropriations will continue to substantially increase the total cost of this vital project, which was on budget and on time until the cuts began.

We also strongly support any request the city makes to continue to fund development of the District-owned St. Elizabeths East Campus, which is essential to consolidation. The East Campus will house the Federal Emergency Management Agency and amenities to support the 14,000 to 20,000 federal employees who will move to the West Campus. The District recently opened the St. Elizabeths Gateway Pavilion on the East Campus, a multi-purpose outdoor structure to benefit the growing presence of federal employees at St. Elizabeths, the first to work at a federal agency east of the Anacostia River in Ward 8 with retail, a farmers market and other amenities that have long been needed there.

Thank you for your consideration and your continued support for the DHS consolidated headquarters at the St. Eizabeths.

Sincerely,

Eleanor Holmes Norton