Marylanders in Congress made their first move Thursday inside the Senate Appropriations Committee to use this year’s government funding bills to pinch the Trump administration for abandoning the longtime plan to move the FBI’s headquarters to their home state.
After a decadelong competition between leaders in Maryland and Virginia, the suburban town of Greenbelt was chosen in 2023 for the bureau’s new campus. But the Trump administration officially ditched that plan this month, leaving about $1.4 billion in a construction account set aside for the relocation project.
Now Chris Van Hollen, Maryland’s senior senator and a top appropriator, wants to use this year’s government funding process to fight the Trump administration’s move.
He notched his first victory Thursday morning during the Appropriations Committee’s markup of the bill that funds the FBI, when members voted 15-14 on his amendment to block the Trump administration from using the construction cash for anything besides building a new FBI headquarters at the previously selected site.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined Democrats in supporting the bid.
Allowing Trump to “snatch” money that Congress has set aside for something lawmakers have mandated serves to undercut Congress’ funding power under Article I of the Constitution, Van Hollen told his colleagues: “Today it’s the FBI headquarters, tomorrow it could be any project anywhere in the country.”
But the longtime tug-of-war over relocating the FBI is expected to continue over the next 12 weeks, as lawmakers and the Trump administration scuffle over the broader plan for funding the government by the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.
