Transcripts For CSPAN Secretary 20240704

What if its the coolest year of the next 100 . Carl sagan said years ago that we live in a highly scientific and Technological Society were very few people understand the science of technology. Thats kind of where we are today with climate change. Climate is always warming, the major cooling periods like the ice ages were triggered by mass you can is watching this program on our cspan now video app. Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and General Services Administration Administrator Robin Carnahan cohost a News Conference on using Inflation Reduction Act funds to better equip the Homeland Security department. We are thrilled you could join us today as we share exciting news including the announcement of additional funding made possible by the signing of Inflation Reduction Act and a new memorandum of understanding on sustainability and Building Construction and decarbonization by the local utility. Todays program will begin with remarks by Robin Carnahan, secretary mayorkas, and others. I would like to thank the executive latrine owens. We will take a quick pause then have the signing of the mou. Administrator carnahan . Adm. Carnahan thank you very much and thank you for being here today and for all of your leadership on this. This is a great example of the Biden Harris Administrations commitment to investing in america and we are doing that investment right here at Saint Elizabeths the home of the department of Homeland Security. The president has been committed to this investing in american jobs, infrastructure, and rebuilding our economy so it works for everyone. That means creating more good paying jobs, supporting middleclass working emilys, strengthening communities starting right here. We have an Important Role to play because we oversee the federal real estate portfolio all across the country. It is our job to make sure these buildings not only support good paying jobs but also do that in a way that is sustainable and costeffective and efficient for the american people. We are happy to do that today. We are making that kind of investment at Saint Elizabeths. It is good for creating jobs, boosting the economy, saving taxpayer dollars and it is heav healthier for the planet. We are celebrating the First Anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act. It is the most historic investment ever made in sustainability in our country. This is a Perfect Moment to be announcing this 300 million ira investment. We are doing three things. Building a new headquarters for the Cybersecurity Infrastructure security agency. Second, headquarters for ice. Third, a new parking garage as well as entry gate and security points for the entire campus. Through all of that not only we are helping in the Important Mission but also aching sure we are using the best sustainable building practices to do that and we are not wasting any time. Groundbreaking is happening on all of these starting next year. I know you will talk more about the benefits and impact of this consolidation for your department but i want you to know we are here and committed to using our team to do all we can to help you deliver. This is about showcasing how the federal government can lead by example. We can support your mission and do right by the american taxpayers, create good jobs in america and do the right thing for the planet. Congresswoman, i know you know better than anyone what the impact of these jobs are on local economies and the people that live in these neighborhoods. I want you to know that we expect lots of good paying jobs to come from this at least 800 for this new part of the project. We have already established a lot of relationships in the community and partnerships with Small Businesses. We have done it with the development that is happened here, or hundred 35 contracts with Small Businesses. We have helped 35 of them get status which as you know opens up federal contracting across the board. Our plan is to build on that and the work of the Opportunity Center which i know you were critical in getting started. That connects folks in the community to Job Opportunities on this site. It has already created 2500 jobs. We are committed to continuing to do that. This investment is not just about jobs, its about helping the environment. We will be reducing the Carbon Footprint of these facilities dramatically. Lowering energy costs because of Smart Investments and solar panels, leds, digital lighting. What we want is for this to be a model for what we can do here and around the country because if we can do it in a National Security setting, it can be done anywhere. I want to mention that you can see there are Historic Buildings all around and we will do all of this with an eye toward maintaining the history. My grandfather spent his career working at Saint Elizabeths as a plumber and in the farm. This is just an example of one of the projects we are doing to invest in america around the country. We have big lands to do more and i want to handed over to secretary mayorkas to talk about the impact on your team. Sec. Mayorkas thank you all for being here this morning. In november 2022, when president bush signed into law the legislation that created the department of Homeland Security, he told the nation that his highest and priority as president was to unite our efforts under one roof and behind one primary mission, to protect the american people. His vision alongside that of one of my predecessors secretary ridge and members of congress especially congresswoman Eleanor Holmes norton worked to create that mandate. Today thank you to President Bidens Inflation Reduction Act, youre making significant steps to that vision, to unite our efforts under one roof. Our department has already made progress as evidenced by the extraordinary campus we are meeting on today. 20 years ago, Saint Elizabeth was aborted up hospital and dhs was assembling chairs and desks in front of elevators drafting plans and Organization Charts and striving for a seat at the table from our temporary brusque avenue complex. Since then thanks the 3. 2 billion appropriated by congress so far, we broke ground on arson elizabeths headquarters in 2009. Our coast guard headquarters opened in 2013. The building renovation began in 2015 and Headquarters Staff dan in april moved in in april 2019. Many components were remained dispersed throughout washington, d. C. Some asked why is that a problem . I offer two reasons why consolidation is important to our departments mission. The first is fiscal. As public servants, we have a responsibility to the public to make smart careful use of their money. Gsa, dhs, and the entire Biden Harris Administration are doing just that. Full execution of the dhs campus consolidation effort will take our total number of locations from 40 26. This will reduce the dhs footprint by over 1. 2 million square feet. That is 27. 5 acres of land or the equivalent of 21 football fields of space. Doing so will save the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually. The second reason is operational. Bringing the dhs and other organizations together will increase department cohesion and streamline collaboration which helps make us stronger and better positioned to mitigate the new and evolving threats america faces. When completed, these new projects will house 6500 dhs personnel more than doubling the current number of dhs employees who work at Saint Elizabeth. That is more than 80 of the 14,000 employees who will eventually work here at full development. This is a win. The dhs workforce, the capital region, and our Homeland Security. There are many people to thank for helping make this important step finally happened and we do not have time for all of them. I do however again want to recognize President Biden and the rest of his Administration Leadership have made Critical Infrastructure investment finally happened through the Inflation Reduction Act. The department of Homeland Security has never been more fit for the mission ahead and these critical investments in air campus will ensure that remains the case for years to come. I want to thank gsa administrator carnahan who understands the importance of having dhs under one roof and has been a great champion for a workforce. I also want to acknowledge the many members of congress who helped make the Inflation Reduction Act a reality including congresswoman Eleanor Holmes norton who has joined us today. She has been a champion of this project for many years. I want to take a moment to recognize and thank the outstanding dhs personnel who are here with whom i am privileged to work and without whom this day would never have come and i want to thank you and commend you and recognize you. Thank you so much. [applause] it is such a pleasure to be here to announce 300 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding for three new Construction Projects with opportunities for hiring d. C. Residents and contracting with d. C. Small businesses in furtherance of the dhs consolidation project at Saint Elizabeths that i have championed for over a decade in the congress. The ongoing work at Saint Elizabeths is of great importance to the federal government and will result in significant savings for taxpayers. Dhs currently has 79 , houses more than 50 locations throughout the region and the leases will expire in five years. If these leases must be extended or if shortterm extensions reach holdover status, the already high cost of leasing will increase. Consolidating these agencies at Saint Elizabeths will achieve operational synergy and reduce the dhs leasing portfolio and cost by at least 20 in accordance with the reduce the footprint policy as required by congress. Gsa and dhs have developed and enhanced master plan that reduces the projects cost by more than 800 million, increases the number of employees to be house at Saint Elizabeths from 14,000 to 17000 and is estimated to result in 1. 17 billion in savings over the current model of leased facilities spread over multiple locations. The project is the largest federal project in the country and the first to be built east of the anacostia river. It is important to me that Saint Elizabeths will serve and benefit d. C. Residents and businesses especially those east of the anacostia river. After first secured funding for the dhs headquarters consolidation into thousand nine, i worked to establish an Opportunity Center for Saint Elizabeth to help d. C. Residents and Small Businesses including minority owned and womenowned businesses for the consolidation of Saint Elizabeth and other federal projects. The Opportunity Center also offers resume writing workshops, job postings, aa Small Business training, and community outreach. We need to redouble these efforts as the consolidation continues. The construction creates fulfilling and highpaying careers supporting thousands of workers and their families yet too often barriers such as transportation cost to health care or lack of access to training and other support hindered the ability of minorities and disadvantaged individuals to access jobs in the construction sector. According to recent data from the bureau of labor statistics, women account for 11 of construction work. African americans account for 6. 3 . That is why i thought to reinstate the local hiring Initiative Pilot program through the Infrastructure Investment and jobs act. Through local hiring, we can ensure the federal dollars for Infrastructure Projects flow through to local communities and provide meaningful good paying jobs in construction to d. C. Residents. The consolidation of the dhs headquarters at Saint Elizabeths epitomizes the potential to leverage federal projects with the benefit of the nation and d. C. Residents. I will continue to support big bold projects like this that can transform communities. Thank you very much. [applause] adm. Carnahan thank you for those remarks and even so for your leadership. It must feel good. To see the finish line. You have been at this very long time. I want to take just a minute to say that we cant achieve any of these Ambitious Goals around sustainability without very close cooperation with our partners in the private sector and we have some folks from pepco here. Tyler anthony ceo, thank you for joining us. We are partnering with utility can companies and Energy Providers because it is such a critical part of our work d carbonized and reduce our Carbon Footprint and move toward carbon free electricity in all of our federal buildings by 2030 and net zero operations of our buildings by 2045. Today, we are signing an mou with pepco that will have profound impacts across washington and will help us meet those decarbonization goals. We are announcing it today because a big part of what were doing is electrifying these buildings as well as putting in Ev Charging Infrastructure and we will do that same thing across the region but this will be an important start. Tyler, i would love for you to say a few words then we will sign this mou and be able to answer a few questions. Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank administrator carnahan, secretary mayorkas, as well as the congresswoman for being here today. It is an honor to represent pepco. My name is tyler anthony, i am the president and ceo of the holdings. We operate holdings in the state of new jersey, delaware as well as maryland and in the district of columbia. We are part of the exelon family of companies and we have fastly become a Technology Company that delivers electricity. When you think about the electric grid, i firmly believe is the highway to sustainability as well as carbon reduction and helping our Key Stakeholders reach their goals such as the gsa. Operating in the Nations Capital is an honor and responsibility that close to 4000 men and women Pepco Holdings take seriously. D. C. Is typically front and center and frankly as you hurt heard, this administrations efforts to advance Clean Energy Legislation has been instrumental in the fight against climate change. Gsa is a big part of this. I look at this mou as a commitment from myself directly as well as the company to work with the gsa and federal government in reaching their sustainability goals. There are many parts of this that are very important but i will close with the one most important to me and that is the one around social equity. We agree that is a cornerstone of our mission to address areas such as vulnerable and under resourced communities. What we do providing electric service is critical. Who we do it with and how we do it is just as important. Thank you. [applause] adm. Carnahan i think we are going to go over here and do the signing and ab take a quick picture. Maybe take a quick jerk. Picture. Adm. Carnahan thank you for coming. Reporter [indiscernible] adm. Carnahan we have worked very closely with the department of Homeland Security about their Mission Needs and that includes the people they need onsite. Yes, we are taking our lead from them. It will be a significant expansion from what they have now. Some of these facilities are scattered out as the secretary said around d. C. We will be consolidating out of a lot of leases into this space and we know that will end up being a cost savings for taxpayers. Terrific for the mission and terrific for reducing footprint. Thank you. [applause] thank you, congresswoman for everything. Today a discussion on the sttegic relationship between the u. S. , south korea and korea and the role of china in the indo pacific region. Watch live beginning at noon eastern on cspan, cspan now, or cspan. Org. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. Full funding provided by these Television Companies and more. Including wow. We are there for our customers