Jerry Moran: “I support this en bloc amendment, but I would like to speak on behalf of one of the amendments included in it. I greatly…”

“I support this en bloc amendment, but I would like to speak on behalf of one of the amendments included in it. I greatly thank the chairman and the ranking member for including it. This fall, 6,400 Department of Defense employees are scheduled to occupy an office complex less than 5 miles from the U.S. Capitol. It is known as the Mark Center. It is on U.S. Route 395 and Seminary Road. {time} 1150 According to five separate transportation studies, including the Army's own Transportation Management Plan and a highly critical Department of Defense Inspector General report, this location was improperly chosen and inadequately designed to handle the traffic it will create. It will, thus, result in severe congestion on 395 and on all of the roads surrounding the site. The problem is that about 200,000 commuters use 395 every day. We estimate it will cause a 1- to 2-hour additional delay for those commuters. The National Academy of Sciences looked at it. They said, if this goes through in the fall, it will compromise the military mission that is the responsibility of the Washington Headquarters Services people who would occupy the building, and it will cause severe damage to the regional economy. What this amendment does is to simply limit the number of vehicles that can come to this site to no more than 1,000 until traffic mitigation measures are in place. The Department of Defense has finally reprogrammed $20 million for some of the needed improvements.…”