Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. As you heard, H.R. 6316 sets a 5-year expiration on resolutions approving GSA construction, alteration, repair, design, or acquisition projects. This means that if within 5 years of the passage of the resolution GSA has not executed the project, then the authorization is deemed expired. This has been a concern to Members on both sides of the aisle for years. Similar provisions were included in former T&I Chairman Shuster's Public Buildings Reform and Savings Act of 2016 and former Chairman Barletta's REAL Reform Act of 2018. Unfortunately, neither of these bills was signed into law. I hear from the many Federal agencies that I work with that it can be difficult to obtain information from GSA on the status of projects authorized by Congress, especially the construction of new courthouses. Once we authorize an activity, whether it is a leasing activity or construction of a new building, we currently have little access to how, when, and if the project has been executed. This lack of information became apparent after GSA submitted a prospectus to build a new courthouse in Los Angeles, California, in 2000 as part of its FY 2001 capital investment program. Even though there were already two courthouses in Los Angeles, the Judicial Conference insisted that the L.A. courthouse complex was so short of space for judges that it was the number one space emergency in the country.…”