WASHINGTON — Tuesday could be a defining day for Washington Commanders fans hoping for the teams potential return to D.C.
The Senate Committee on Energy and National Resources will meet at 930 a.m. to vote on whether to advance legislation which would give the District long-term control of the RFK site. That would clear the way for owner Josh Harris to build the team’s new stadium there, if he can strike a deal with D.C. Government.
After sailing through the House of Representatives, H.R. 4984 has stalled in the Senate. The legislation would “direct the Secretary of the Interior to transfer administrative jurisdiction over the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus to the District of Columbia so that the District may use the Campus for purposes including residential and commercial development” which could include a new football stadium for the Commanders.
On Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser downplayed Tuesday’s hearing as procedural.
“And as I have said before, this bill passed in the House of Representatives overwhelmingly, now needs its vote in the Senate,” Bowser told reporters after the grand opening of the District’s new Go-Go Museum in Southeast. “It's already had a hearing. So, this is the first vote in the Senate and we're hopeful that it will come out of committee and go to the whole Senate.”
But Montana Sen. Steve Daines, who sits on that committee, has signaled opposition to the bill over the franchise's decision to retire the team's old Indian head logo, which was created by ancestors of one of his Montana constituents.
American University Professor Bill Snape, director of the environmental and energy law program at AU’s Washington College of Law, believes the RFK bill has an uphill battle.
“It's a political mess right now,” Snape said Monday. “Because the Republicans do control the House, but they don't control the Senate. And if the Senate Democrats don't want this provision or bill to be stuck into another must pass bill. I don't think it will happen.”
Even if that Senate Committee votes to advance the RFK legislation, the bill still has to get a full hearing on the Senate floor and be approved before congress adjourns in December. Maryland Sens. Van Hollen and Cardin both have indicated they would vote against the RFK Bill on the Senate floor, should it make it that far, over concerns about what would happen to the old stadium site in Prince Georges County if the Commanders were to move back to D.C.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the RFK bill earlier this year.
Should the RFK bill fail to make it out of committee Tuesday or not get full Senate approval by the end of this congressional session, Harris and his fellow owners must decide whether to try again next session, pushing a new stadium timeline even further back. Or move forward with plans for a new stadium in Maryland and Virginia, where land acquisition is not an issue.
“I think the bill is worrisome. But I think the bill will not go away particularly next year. I think Harris and D.C. have more cards in their pocket than it looks like at this point,” Snape said. “It really makes no sense for the Washington Commanders to have home games that are more than an hour away from D.C. I mean, it's sort of ludicrous on a certain level."