Ed Royce: “I want to assure the gentleman from Virginia, and all Members here, Mr. Speaker, that this committee has been highly…”

“I want to assure the gentleman from Virginia, and all Members here, Mr. Speaker, that this committee has been highly attentive to the Benghazi attack. Indeed, that's one of the reasons we're here on this bill. To the gentleman from Virginia who spoke earlier, I would just note that if standing up a new Foreign Affairs Training Center in his district, as has been proposed, is a good use of our limited fiscal resources, then he has nothing to fear from this bill. While there have been proposals to completely prohibit such an expenditure, they are not included in this legislation. But what our bill does do is it requires an independent feasibility study first, to assess whether current facilities are inadequate, before we spend the better part of a billion dollars on a completely new facility. If the gentleman from Virginia is suggesting he's opposed to this legislation, then I would point out that initial estimates by the Department of State are that this new facility could cost up to $950 million--and at least $450 million. {time} 1500 I would also call attention to the Members of this body that Congress has not received a copy of any feasibility studies related to the proposed new Foreign Assistance Training Center--FAST-C, as it's called.…”