WASHINGTON — Grab some popcorn and gather around your laptop late Thursday morning for a truly unique D.C.-style show. Former House Majority Leader and Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer tells WUSA9 he’s prepared for “theater” during Thursday’s House Appropriations Committee markup of the FY ’25 Financial Services and General Government budget bill.
“It’s messages for their MAGA base. Their extremist base,” says Hoyer of the Appropriations Committee’s more performative Republican members.
Republican leaders on the Committee released the first draft of the Financial Services and General Government budget bill (FSGG) last week. Within the 216-page bill are a handful of so-called “anti-DC Home Rule riders” as coined by the District’s non-voting Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
For example, there is a provision in the draft bill that would allow anyone who has a concealed weapons permit from any state to be allowed to carry their concealed weapon within the WMATA system and on Metrorail.
Another provision would repeal D.C.'s automated traffic enforcement cameras while another would strike down a law prohibiting right turns at red lights.
There's also the controversial, so-called "Harris Rider" which WUSA9 recently confirmed with Rep. Andy Harris' (R-MD) office would be coming back this year. The Harris Rider is a restriction put on D.C. prohibiting the District from being able to legalize marijuana and create a commercial market for the sale and distribution of marijuana.
“They (Republicans) know they’re not going to succeed because they didn’t succeed last year. And they can’t get fiscal things done without Democratic help because they’re not a unified party,” said Hoyer. “They’re a very divided party.”
For a federal project crucial for Prince George's County, there is also language in the draft budget bill that would kill the new FBI headquarters project, keeping FBI personnel at the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover building downtown or moving it to another federally owned building in the District.
“I think that provision is in for some people who don’t know much about the building, don’t care where the personnel are. And what they don’t like is the FBI,” Hoyer said.
Rep. Hoyer is the ranking member of the Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, which oversees funding for government projects like a new FBI headquarters.
Hoyer says he is completely confident in being able to have that provision removed from the bill, in part, due to a lack of Republican cohesion on the issue.
“100 percent,” he said. “As you can imagine, I’ve talked to a lot of people on both sides of the aisle. I don’t believe this language is going to have any substantive effect.”
Replacing the aging FBI headquarters in D.C. has faced a “tortured path” according to Hoyer. He says the federal government could have saved $1 billion had the project moved forward in 2016 before being effectively killed by then-President Donald Trump.
Hoyer cites the initial conversations he had with then-FBI Director Bob Mueller in 2009 when the issue of a new headquarters was first raised. Mueller, according to Hoyer, expressed the desire to have a secure site set aback from public roadways, to avoid a calamitous situation like the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City.
Hoyer says there is no federal site available within the District that would allow for that type of security for a new FBI facility. The GSA in November of 2023 selected Greenbelt, Maryland as the site for a new FBI headquarters.
“The selection is done but the fat lady hasn’t sung until we cut the ribbon,” said Hoyer.
Regarding the budget riders affecting D.C., Hoyer points to Republican meddling in the District’s affairs.
“Our Republican friends say, yes there’s home rule. Unless we don’t like what the home rule results in,” Hoyer said. “You can have your own way right up until I don’t like it.”
Hoyer says he plans to offer an amendment to modify the provision regarding concealed weapons on WMATA citing the January 6th, 2021 Capitol riots as highlighting the danger of armed individuals being able to travel freely throughout D.C.
“I think the majority of Congress will not think this is what we ought to be doing,” said Hoyer.
The House Appropriations Committee FSGG markup is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. Thursday and you can watch the livestream HERE.
RELATED: New FBI headquarters slated to open in Greenbelt could be dead in the water with new GOP budget
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