Senate Democrats from Maryland and Virginia will be squarely in the crosshairs in the coming months as they battle each other and simultaneously over changes to Reagan National Airport and the location of the FBI’s next headquarters.
Lawmakers are fighting each other to keep the J. Edgar Hoover Building replacement in its home state, but all are fighting to get a replacement included in the next government spending package amid GOP dissatisfaction with the FBI . . A spending deal is needed to avoid a government shutdown before Sept. 30.
Separately, the quartet — Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) — are fighting direct expansion . long-haul flights out of DCA as part of the FAA reauthorization bill that also must be passed by Sept. 30.
The push-pull nature of their efforts is putting them in the middle of key battles as the race to craft binding legislation heats up.
“Seems like we always are [in the eye of the storm]. … It’s a challenge,” Kaine told The Hill. “It’s like, ‘One more thing.'”
While the FBI’s fight has been strong for months, the issue surrounding Reagan National and the impact on other DMV airports emerged late last week in the form of a proposed amendment to the draft FAA reauthorization bill that would increase the number of flights out of DCA. outside the 1,250 mile perimeter.
Currently, the airport only has 11 flights to cities outside this perimeter. The amendment, which has the support of both Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the panel’s ranking member, would add four flight slots for long distance cities. A Thursday markup on the bill was scrapped as negotiations continue on an unrelated provision focused on airline pilot qualifications.
However, DMV-based senators are coming to the table to stop the amendment, saying they will use every tool at their disposal to defeat it. They wrote one op-ed in The Washington Post on Thursday taking aim at the proposal, arguing that Reagan National is already overflowing and can’t handle more flights without increasing delays and longer lines.
“It’s just an issue that we have to fight about,” Kaine said, noting that members are discussing a compromise amendment to include it in the FAA bill. “Warner and I just want to tell him not to do it. It’s working right now. Please don’t do it. We don’t like the compromise. … We have all options on the table.”
Supporters of the amendment argue that it should be easier to visit the nation’s capital.
Supporters have not said lawmakers prefer to travel out of DCA over Dulles International Airport or Baltimore/Washington International Airport, both better suited to handling long-haul flights but further from the city.
Meanwhile, the FBI battle has put the group of Democratic senators in a place they don’t usually find themselves: fighting each other. The push to find a new headquarters for the FBI has been a roughly decade-long process that is nearing its end, and the General Services Administration is expected to announce a location in the near future. It is considering one site in northern Virginia and two in Prince George’s County.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) threw a wrench into the push in recent weeks by voicing his support for eliminating funding for the effort over the FBI’s role in impeaching former President Trump for his handling of classified documents.
However, Democrats still find it hard to believe he will be ruled out entirely.
“[Kaine] and I both think that the idea that somehow the whole notion of the FBI building is going to be held hostage is clear that many members of the House have never visited the FBI headquarters that literally she’s falling all over herself,” Warner told The Hill. “There’s never a dull moment.”
Virginia seemed to gain the upper hand this week as a FBI document showed that the Bureau prefers the new headquarters to be located near its training academy in Quantico, upsetting those in the Old Line State
Senators from both delegations acknowledged the semi-high wire act they are conducting in the series of talks as they deal with the issues that come with representing the states surrounding the District.
“Obviously we have very different views on the best home for the FBI,” Van Hollen said, noting that the Prince George’s County locations would cost taxpayers roughly $1 billion less than those in Virginia.
“In Congress, part of the job is to work together as allies on a project where we have mutual interests, and to do that where you don’t,” Van Hollen added.
