Posted on 05/21/2014 7:01:55 PM PDT by kristinn
The construction of a massive new headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security, billed as critical for national security and the revitalization of Southeast Washington, is running more than $1.5 billion over budget, is 11 years behind schedule and may never be completed, according to planning documents and federal officials.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the George W. Bush administration called for a new, centralized headquarters to strengthen the departments ability to coordinate the fight against terrorism and respond to natural disasters. More than 50 historic buildings would be renovated and new ones erected on the grounds of St. Elizabeths, a onetime insane asylum with a panoramic view of the District.
The entire complex was to be finished as early as this year, at a cost of less than $3 billion, according to the initial plan.
Instead, with the exception of a Coast Guard building that opened last year, the grounds remain entirely undeveloped, with the occasional deer grazing amid the vacant Gothic Revival-style structures. The budget has ballooned to $4.5 billion, with completion pushed back to 2026. Even now, as Obama administration officials make the best of their limited funding, they have started design work for a second building that congressional aides and others familiar with the project say may never open.
SNIP
Funding ran far short from the start. In 2007, the Bush administration asked for $362 million, but the Democratic-controlled House slashed it to $6 million. They werent going to give Bush that amount of money because it was Bush, said a Democrat who was familiar with the Houses thinking at the time and who, like other people interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"Nothing's too good for the taxpayers"
The new FBI building here in town certainly fits that category too:
There you have it BUSH"S FAULT
Considering the quality of the occupants, they should search for an abandoned barn or pig sty in Maryland.
It WAS an insane asylum!
With all the empty building available from closed businesses caused by the robust economy, shouldn’t have to build anything.
Use available buildings in Detroit.
DHS has the same headcount as the USMC and TWICE their budget.
And that was BEFORE all this rot about their gold-plated HQ.
“...billed as critical for
enormous cash transfers to our cronies in
Southeast Washington...”
More appropriate.
They really think such a project will revitalize the ghetto of southeast Washington? Really? The youth gangs will still lay waste to that area, whether this complex is built or not.
I had no idea it was that large...
Defund the DHS, NSA, IRS and several more and who would really miss them?
Also de-fund the First Lady, who, without an elected office or constitutional authority has a fleet of aircraft, staff and budget at her disposal exceeding that of 136 heads of state.....................
FOR WHAT!!!
Someone has to collect taxes - but it doesn’t have to be the Chicago Crime Syndicate... Lois and her fellow thug types need to be shown the door.
A flat tax could downsize that department nicely...
The NSA’s a metaphorical child of the World War II code-breakers. They have a spot... but it can’t be as the thug arm of the democrat party. And the DHS? Paranoid leftists who hate traditional Americans? I’m totally with you on that one... defund them. It’s the Ministry of Truth on speed...
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