The chess match over construction of a new federal office building in Downtown Kansas City got some attention on the Senate floor today.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unleashed a tirade against Republicans for holding up the nominations of 214 prospective federal officials.
Among them? Missouri Sen. Kit Bond’s “hold” on the nomination of Martha Johnson, President Obama’s choice to head the General Services Administration.
“President Obama nominated this woman in April on the first full day of the major league baseball season,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said. “Today, on the second day of the major league World Series, she remains unconfirmed for her job. Why? Because a Republican senator is demanding a federal building built in his home state.”
But there's more to it than that.
Bond has been holding up Johnson’s appointment to try and pressure the GSA into approving a $175 million project to relocate the federal complex in South Kansas City to Downtown.
But Reid beat him to it.
According to a story last month in CongressDaily, the majority leader himself put a hold on Johnson's nomination several month before Bond:
"Reid is keen to promote travel to Nevada, where he faces a tough re-election fight next year. Aides said he delayed confirmation of Johnson while seeking assurances that the agency, which oversees federal travel policy, did not discourage federal employees from traveling to Las Vegas for business conferences."
Bond took to the Senate floor later to respond to Reid.
"The delay on this nomination reached back long before my informal 'hold.' which occurred in late July," he said. "Sen. Reid apparently wants federal employees to be able to visit Las Vegas. I want federal employees to have a good place to work. Sen. Reid has his priorities, I have mine. I just want to make sure it's clear to the Senate that the delay has more than one father and is truly bipartisan."
The GSA operates most federal buildings and manages the nuts and bolts of the government, as in "Can we get some heat over here at EPA?"
The plan had been for a local developer to build the new office center and leased it back to GSA, a less costly undertaking for Washington and a future source of tax revenue locally.
Bond, along with Sen. Claire McCaskill and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver - both Democrats - thought the GSA was on board with the project last fall when the plan went to Congress.
But the agency took another look at the project and now wants to build the building itself and own it, which the agency says would cost less in the long run.
Stay tuned.
