Jim Jordan demands FBI relocation to Alabama to combat liberal bias.

Republican Congressman Threatens to Block Funding for New FBI Headquarters

Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) is taking a bold stance by threatening to block funding for a new FBI headquarters in the Washington, D.C., area. But his reasoning behind this move is what makes it truly intriguing.

In light of the federal government’s investigation into former president Donald Trump and his Republican allies, Jordan argues that the agency should put some distance between itself and D.C. and move to Huntsville, Alabama. According to Jordan, this relocation would ensure that FBI agents are less influenced by liberal partisanship.

Jordan has attached this proposal to upcoming appropriations bills, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The FBI’s Response

The FBI, however, strongly opposes this idea. The agency believes that a move to Alabama would be detrimental to the support it provides to the American people. It cites numerous operational reasons for the importance of being in the D.C. area, including proximity to other agencies and its training facility in Virginia.

Interestingly, the FBI already has a significant presence in Alabama. Jordan argues that the bureau would be better insulated from liberal influence in the state, as reported by the Journal:

“Jordan wants to see the bureau based at Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal, a U.S. Army post where the FBI already has a growing campus that is home to more than 1,000 employees. He plans to submit a legislative rider, a condition placed on a bill, on Tuesday. Although Democrats view the proposal as nothing more than a dig at the FBI, Jordan argues investigators would be less likely to be infected by what he sees as liberal politics if the bureau were based in deep-red Alabama than alongside other government and national-security agencies in and around the nation’s capital.”

Furthermore, three Jordan staffers recently toured the Huntsville center, which FBI officials sometimes refer to as their unofficial second headquarters.

Reforms and Alleged Bias

It’s worth noting that Republicans in Congress have been calling for reforms at the FBI in recent years. They have criticized the renewal request for a U.S. surveillance program that has been used to spy on Americans. The FBI also faced scrutiny for alleged liberal bias when it was revealed that an FBI agent investigating Trump, Peter Strzok, sent anti-Trump texts and pushed to use the Hillary Clinton campaign’s opposition research as the basis for surveillance on the Trump campaign.