Senate panel takes major step to keep FBI headquarters in DC, instead of moving to Md.

For all the latest developments in Congress, follow WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at Today on the Hill.

A U.S. Senate panel on Thursday stripped out an amendment that had blocked funding for a plan from President Donald Trump’s administration to relocate the FBI headquarters to a new site in D.C., rather than suburban Maryland, which was chosen after a lengthy competition with Virginia.

The panel last week had approved an amendment from Maryland U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen to keep startup funding going toward the site in Greenbelt.

But the lone Republican who supported the amendment, Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, said she now has a better understanding of the administration’s decision, after meeting this week with FBI Director Kash Patel.

“It was certainly not my intention to be purposely disruptive,” Murkowski said.

She noted she wanted to get more information about the administration’s decision, adding she did not have a “a dog in this fight.”

Murkowski said she couldn’t let the broader legislation fail over the single issue of the FBI’s location.

An amendment sponsored by Kansas U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, which Murkowski supported, was approved, striking the Van Hollen amendment.

Van Hollen’s amendment had blocked the administration from using $1.4 billion in funding for any site other than Greenbelt, which was chosen after a site review process that lasted 15 years.

The Democratic lawmaker said reversing the decision on the Maryland site would set a bad precedent.

“We have a selected site that was based on competition,” Van Hollen said, noting that it was based on a bipartisan agreement.

Van Hollen vowed to continue to fight on behalf of the chosen site in Maryland.

The legislation covering funds for the FBI more broadly includes the Justice and Commerce departments, as well as NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies.

The bill was approved by the full committee.

Former Fox host closer to becoming DC’s top federal prosecutor   

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the nomination of former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to become the U.S. Attorney for D.C.

Pirro has been the acting D.C. U.S. attorney since mid-May, after President Trump withdrew the nomination of the former acting prosecutor Ed Martin.

Democrats on the panel walked out of Thursday’s committee meeting due to their opposition to another nominee, former Trump defense attorney Emil Bove, to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

Democrats have criticized Pirro for backing conspiracies related to the 2020 presidential election and raised questions about her support of Jan. 6 defendants.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin called her a “Jan. 6 apologist.”

In her questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee, she was asked whether rioters who were convicted of violent assaults on police officers should have been given full and unconditional pardons.

She stated that the president has the power to pardon any individual.

“I am also not aware that ‘rioters who were convicted of violent assaults on police officers’ were given ‘full and unconditional pardons,’” she said in her statement.

Her nomination now goes to the full Senate for confirmation.

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