U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski is pledging to make funding for a mammoth consolidation of FDA facilities a priority this session of Congress so the 17-year-old effort stays on track.
For the Maryland Democrat, the item essentially has become her pet project on the 2007 Continuing Resolution being considered by the Senate this week.
According to officials, the hope is to move about a dozen offices over to the 130-acre site of the former White Oak Naval Surface Warfare Center in Montgomery County by 2012.
The plan was formulated in 1990, when Mikulski first began making her pitches for funding at the federal level. Since then four offices have been relocated, involving about 4,000 employees.
Mikulski?s goal for the Continuing Resolution is to urge the General Services Administration, which oversees the FDA consolidation, to maintain the $178.5 million in funding approved by the GSA last year.
“This money will help transform a closed naval base into a world-class federal research facility,” the senator said in a written statement. “This project has been a top priority for the community and a top priority for me because it means economic development for Montgomery and Prince George?s counties, and jobs for the people of Maryland.”
According to the FDA, the new buildings will replace all the existing fragmented facilities which support the Office of the Commissioner, the Office of Regulatory Affairs, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and offices for the Center for Veterinary Medicine.
