U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) voiced his support on Monday for a suggestion by U.S. House Judiciary Committee chairman U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to move the FBI’s headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Alabama.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Jordan and other Republicans intend to withhold funding from the FBI’s new headquarters unless the federal agency relocates to Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal.
According to the report, this comes in response to the agency’s investigation into former President Donald Trump, which several conservatives have accused of being politically motivated.
Jordan included the proposal in a list of recommendations to the House Appropriations Committee.
Tuberville shared the WSJ report on Twitter on Monday morning:
“The FBI has needed a new headquarters for years now,” he wrote. “I agree with [Jordan]: the best place for FBI headquarters is its state of the art facility in Huntsville.”
A spokesperson for the FBI told the WSJ that relocating its headquarters would be troublesome for “operational reasons.” The FBI’s academy is located in Quantico, Va., which is less than 30 miles from D.C. The spokesperson also said that its facilities in Huntsville are currently incapable of associating the number of personnel needed at its headquarters.
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle told the WSJ that he would support whatever Congress decides to do with the FBI.