Sen. Mitch McConnell told reporters Monday he does not know why the Trump administration included in the coronavirus aid package $1.75 billion to construct the FBI building in Washington, D.C.
McConnell told reporters the deal Republicans unveiled on Monday was negotiated first with the White House, which asked for the money to be added to the measure.
“You’ll have to ask them why they insisted that be included,” McConnell said.
The GOP’s sweeping aid package includes $200 billion to extend the forgivable loan program for small businesses, $105 billion to help schools reopen, $16 billion for testing and vaccine development, extended expansion of unemployment benefits, and a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks. The entire cost of the GOP bill is roughly $1 trillion.
Democrats are pitching a $3 trillion bill that includes a list of unrelated items, including a bailout of the U.S. Postal Service and state pension programs.
Page 12 of the Republican bill text calls for $1.75 billion “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus” and that some of it “shall be used for the design and construction of a Washington D.C. headquarters facility,” for the FBI.
Two years ago, the FBI scrapped plans to relocate to the Maryland suburbs and instead elected to rebuild at its current location, which is located near the Trump Hotel.
Critics suspected President Trump of forcing the move in order to benefit his hotel.
The GOP aid measure includes funding for other departments to deal with the pandemic. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire, and Explosives would receive $36.4 million while NASA and the military branches would receive several billion dollars each to “prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus.”
