Chris Van Hollen: “I just want to take a few moments to respond to the Senator from Kansas. First of all, I do think it is the business of…”

“I just want to take a few moments to respond to the Senator from Kansas. First of all, I do think it is the business of the subcommittee that oversees the Department of Justice and the FBI to ensure that the men and women of the FBI have a headquarters--wherever it is--that meets the security standards that they have set out for themselves for their own protection. I also agree with the Senator from Kansas in that we should and do work together on a bipartisan basis on the Appropriations Committee and that we should do that as a separate branch of government than the executive branch. The only reason we are here is that the President of the United States decided to seize funds that had been set aside by this committee on a bipartisan basis and others and use them for another purpose. This is a moment, actually, where, if the Senate were adhering to its traditions of bipartisanship, it would stand up together against the President of the United States. But that is not what we are witnessing on so many of these appropriations bills. What happened in this case was the President of the United States interfered with the process. I did offer an amendment in the Senate Appropriations Committee. It was actually adopted on a majority basis. It was an amendment not only to ensure that the FBI would go to a level 5 security facility, but it was an amendment that said it should go to the one that was selected after a long process.”