X-Message-Number: 3822
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 15:29:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: New HQ for the FDA


The following is only tangentially related to cryonics issues but may be 
of interest to the many people who read this forum and also use life 
extension drugs.

[From The Congressional Record -- House, H957, Jan. 31, 1995]
 
THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE:
Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Tennessee 
[Mr. Duncan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
 
(Mr. Duncan asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
 
 
MR. DUNCAN:
Mr. Speaker, one of the most wasteful, inefficient agencies in 
the entire Federal Government is the Food and Drug 
Administration [FDA].
 
In their bureaucratic and arrogant way, they have held medicines 
and medical devices off the U.S. market, sometimes for years, to 
the detriment of the health of American citizens.
 
By their rules, regulations, and red tape, they have driven up 
the price of drugs and have helped the big drug giants by making 
it extremely difficult or almost impossible for small businesses 
to compete in the field.
 
Now, however, they want to do something which should outrage 
every taxpayer in the Nation.
 
At a time when we are supposed to be downsizing the Federal 
Government, the FDA wants to build a Taj Mahal complex of 
buildings in Maryland for a new headquarters.
 
Part of this project is to be in Montgomery County and part in 
Prince Georges County.
 
However, the important point is not the location. It is the cost.
 
The original cost estimate for these buildings was almost $1 
billion dollars.
 
However, because the FDA has become concerned about the 
appearance of this exorbitant and excessive spending at a time 
when most people want frugality in Government, they have lowered 
their estimated cost, all the way down to $875 million.
 
Even if this project comes in on budget, which I seriously doubt, 
it would still be at a cost of a whopping $257 a square foot.
 
State governments are building beautiful buildings for half this 
cost.
 
And is the FDA doing everything possible to hold down costs? 
Well, since the money is not coming out of their own pockets, 
they chose the most expensive site they looked at and some of the 
most expensive land in this Nation.
 
The original cost estimate for the Prince Georges facility was 
$290 a square foot.
 
The Montgomery County complex is to be several buildings 
interconnected, in a college campus-like setting, on a 530-acre 
tract of land -- 530 acres when they could build a beautiful 
headquarters on an acre or less.
 
The fact is, Mr. Speaker, the FDA should be greatly reformed. It 
should be greatly downsized. It should stay where it is now.
 
Perhaps the most phenomenal thing of all is the size of this 
project -- 3.4 million square feet -- to house only 6,500 
employees. This comes out to approximately 750 square feet per 
employee.
 
Most Members of Congress have approximately 1,000 square feet to 
house 9 or 10 employees, or about one-seventh of what the FDA 
wants.
 
Moreover, FDA's current offices and laboratories occupy 2.1 
million square feet of office space.
 
The new FDA complex will be 3.4 million square feet in size. This 
is one million, three hundred thousand square feet more than what 
they have now -- a 60 percent increase -- at a time when the 
Federal Government is supposed to be downsizing.
 
With a national debt of more than $4.7 trillion, we should not be 
spending almost $1 billion to build plush new quarters for FDA 
bureaucrats.
 
The bureaucrats want to live like kings while taxpayers foot the 
bill.
 
I am pleased that today, the Citizens for a Sound Economy came 
out strongly against this project.
 
I know we have a Government that is of, by, and for the 
bureaucrats instead of one that is of, by, and for the people, 
but, Mr. Speaker, this is one I hope we can win for the 
taxpayers.



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