On May 2, 2011, Chairman Mica wrote to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to express concerns about CBO's score of H.R. 690, a proposal to transfer the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Apex Building in Washington, DC to the National Gallery of Art, provide more modern office space for Apex Building employees, consolidate the Gallery of Art's facilities, avoid future leasing costs for the Gallery, ensure that renovations of the nearly 75-year old Apex Building are paid for with private donations instead of taxpayer funds, and enhance the Gallery's ability to display and educate its millions of annual visitors about the national treasures in the art collection gifted to the United States.

Although H.R. 690 offers hundreds of millions of dollars in potential taxpayer savings, CBO assigned a cost to the bill based on an assumption that a new headquarters for the FTC would be constructed if the bill is enacted.

H.R. 690 does not contemplate, intend or provide the federal government the required authority to construct a new FTC headquarters, and Chairman Mica will revise the legislation to ensure that this is made absolutely clear.

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