Senate GOP Balks At White House Push For New FBI HQ In Covid Relief Bill

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A number of Senate Republicans say they oppose a White House request to include money to renovate the FBI headquarters in the upcoming coronavirus relief package.

J. David Ake/AP

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J. David Ake/AP

The Coronavirus Crisis
After Delays, Republicans Rolled Out A New Pandemic Relief Bill. Democrats Balked

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, included the request on the list of items they opposed immediately after reviewing the bill on Monday.

«They didn’t have money for food stamps but they had money for an FBI building just so that they can diminish competition for the President’s hotel,» Pelosi told reporters. «I don’t even think Mitch McConnell knew that was in the bill.»

When McConnell was asked about the issue at a Monday press conference with other Senate Republicans rolling out their bill he seemed unclear about whether or not the money was included in the legislation, and then suggested reporters ask the Trump administration about it.

There has a been a long-standing fight over plans to relocate the FBI from their aging headquarters on Pennsylvania Ave, blocks from the White House, to an updated facility. Lawmakers from Virginia and Maryland had been fighting over the future location for years before President Trump abandoned plans for the move in 2018.

At the time Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., requested an investigation into the cancelled plans, arguing that «the Trump Organization has a longstanding and documented interest in the Hoover property.»

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were on Capitol Hill Tuesday, meeting with top Democratic leaders and GOP Senators to discuss the legislation again and next steps.

Meadows said the FBI building was a «pressing need», but suggested could go in this bill or a future spending bill to fund the government in the fall.

Asked how much the administration would insist it remain in the relief bill, Meadows said, «I don’t see it standing in the way of a deal.»