REED CALLS FOR HALT TO LOS ANGELES COUNTY COURTHOUSE PROJECT; Even Democrats oppose wasting $322 million taxpayer dollars on unnecessary courthouse

Congressman Tom Reed is calling on the General Services Administration (GSA) to stop a new $322 million dollar courthouse project in Los Angeles before construction begins.  GSA began issuing requests for qualifications on the 600,000 square foot courthouse in January. “Los Angeles County currently has more courtrooms than it has judges,” Reed said.  “This is a purely political project which wastes hundreds of millions of dollars. It is an example of how some in Washington, DC continue to operate under the old manner of business – doling out funds for unnecessary projects.”

“Even democrats now oppose this wasteful spending,” Reed observed. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the ranking Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on public buildings, has publicly opposed constructing the courthouse. In 2010, the General Accounting Office concluded that $835 million of taxpayer money was spent on more than 3 million square feet of unneeded courthouse space.

Reed is holding up the courthouse as the latest example in his initiative to shine light on egregious examples of wasteful spending in Washington.  “American families have tightened their belts and gone without,” Reed said. “The Federal government should not be any different.” Reed will formally request that the project be canceled and rally colleagues to do the same.

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