Senators voted Thursday to block President Donald Trump from repurposing cash the FBI was supposed to use to move its headquarters to Maryland, in a major win for the state’s Democratic congressional delegation.
During the Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the bill that funds the FBI, lawmakers voted 15-14 on an amendment that would bar the administration from using funds for any purpose other than to continue construction of the agency’s main building in the suburban town of Greenbelt.
That location was chosen after chosen in 2023 after a decadelong competition between leaders in Maryland and Virginia, but the Trump administration ditched that plan this month, leaving about $1.4 billion in a construction account set aside for the relocation project.
It has sent Chris Van Hollen, Maryland’s senior senator and a top appropriator, on a crusade to use this year’s government funding process to fight the Trump administration’s move. He notched his first victory Thursday morning, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joining the Appropriations panel’s Democrats in support.
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..