Eleanor Holmes Norton

That could cost the government less.

Well, let me take up precisely an example like that. The Committee has expressed concern about quite a significant number of leases we have been asked to authorize for the FBI.

There has been a longstanding complaint particularly in Prince George's County that Prince George's County has not enjoyed in this region a fair share of GSA lease opportunities.

That is going to be particularly important if you want to have anybody bidding on these projects.

That termination doesn't bring us anything. We have it in there because we are the Federal Government.

We are trying to orient the GSA to think in a down market what the advantages are.

I certainly understand the District of Columbia numbers. I am not quite sure I understand the great discrepancy from suburban Maryland to Northern Virginia.

Would you please provide us that information within 30 days?

How could that be? How long has it been since we passed the stimulus bill?

Yeah, and if you are in the private sector and you do that, you are going to be held to it. Why isn't an agency held to it?

those delays cost the government.

I represent a significant portion of Prince George's County and some of Montgomery County.

A specific number of jobs forecast, that is the whole point of the stimulus project.

I must conclude that throughout the United States this same, and I am going to call a spade a spade, red lining is occurring.

If you are serious about it, you don't keep filling the backlog and congratulating them for getting the new cases.

I am particularly interested in the way that you both value the lease and how you assess things like transportation.

So they are talking to you now, because you are already on a limb for this space.

Your notion is about backlog. That, by the way, is exactly what I meant at the EOC, a 100,000-case backlog.

In terms of being able to bring those projects in.

Prince George's County has, I believe has the greatest number of Metro station stops in the suburban Metropolitan area.

Whereas if they were a bank, they could negotiate in keeping with the state of the market.

I can't say enough about the need for GSA to act like it is in the real estate business.

I have respected its expertise. And so when an agency double crosses me, believe me, they ain't got no friends up here then.

There has to be an explanation for this.

I am not going to deal with a program whose major focus is public infrastructure without finding it out on my own.