The FBI got one step closer to decamping from the “unsafe” conditions of the J. Edgar Hoover Building for a new headquarters at the Ronald Reagan Building after Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday successfully removed a provision that required the FBI to move to a Maryland suburb. 

This followed a week-long holdup during which Senator Murkowski, a Republican who has frequently been going against her party, joined Democrats in voting in favor of an amendment brought forth by Senator Van Hollen that prohibited funds from being used to relocate the FBI to any location that was not the pre-approved site in Greenbelt, Maryland. 

The FBI sought to redirect $555 million already appropriated for the new site in Greenbelt toward paying for its move to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center from the Hoover building.

The FBI believes remaining in Washington instead of building a 61-acre facility in Maryland makes financial and logistical sense.

 “This is way cheaper than getting a new building,” an FBI spokesman told the Sun.

The GSA recognized the urgency to move FBI employees out of the “deteriorating” conditions of the brutalist J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, which the GSA said affected “the safety of employees and mission of the FBI.” In 2023, after a multi-year search, the General Services Administration selected Greenbelt over two other sites in Maryland as the “most advantageous site” to build a new state-of-the-art suburban headquarters, citing its proximity to public transportation and other FBI facilities, and low cost to taxpayers. The GSA planned to “expeditiously move forward” with the development of the new headquarters, projected to cost upward of $4.5 billion, relocating FBI personnel from the Hoover building and eight other locations in the surrounding Washington region in 2036.

But earlier this month, the FBI announced a change of course, saying it would relocate to the Ronald Reagan Building complex as its new headquarters, calling it a “world-class facility that supports the FBI’s critical mission and saves money for taxpayers.”

The GSA public buildings service commissioner, Michael Peters, said in a statement that the Hoover building had already amassed $300 million in deferred maintenance costs.

Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees vowed to stop the move, saying money had already been approved for the Greenbelt site and could not be used to move the FBI to the Ronald Reagan Building.

“Now the Administration is attempting to redirect those funds – both undermining Congressional intent and dealing a blow to the men and women of the FBI – since we know that a headquarters located within the District would not satisfy their security needs,” Representative Steny Hoyer, a Democrat of Maryland, said in a joint statement.

Last week, Senator Van Hollen of Maryland successfully added the amendment to the appropriations bill, prohibiting the Trump administration from using $1.4 billion in funds for “any purpose other than the relocation of the FBI  headquarters in Greenbelt.” Ms. Murkowski crossed party lines to vote in favor of the amendment. 

“So I, for one, would like to know that this analysis has actually been going on for more than just a couple months, that there’s actually been that effort to ensure that we’re going to move forward,” Mr. Murkowski said.

But then this week, Ms. Murkowski met with the FBI director, Kash Patel, for an hour-long discussion on the Trump administration’s decision to keep the FBI  in Washington, D.C., saying she was in a “better spot.”

Since becoming FBI director, Mr. Patel has been eager to move his workforce out of the “unsafe” conditions of the Hoover building. However, he was also wary of moving the bureau into new developments like the one planned for Greenbelt. 

“We’ve got to get smart and stop wasting money. We’ve got to stop thinking up fantasies in Maryland and building $5 billion new buildings,” Mr. Patel told Fox News in May. 

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 15 to 14 to strike down Mr. Van Hollen’s amendment, with Ms. Murkowski voting along party lines.

Despite her change of heart, Ms. Murkowski said she still had her reservations about the FBI’s plans to remain in Washington. “The reality that we’re faced with, at this point in time, is trying to throw good money after bad, in a building that just is not in a condition that we would accept,” she added.

Mr. Van Hollen vowed in a statement on Thursday that “this fight is far from over.”

“We know this project will have additional costs, and the Congress will not support and sustain this abuse of power. Should the FBI ignore the objection to this reprogramming and attempt to move forward, Kash Patel shouldn’t get comfortable in his new office,” Mr. Van Hollen added.