The $100 Million Mystery

I asked Kay King, Director, Congressional and Public Affairs for the U.S. Institute of Peace, about who in Congress supported $100 million for a headquarters for this group.

Her response:

Mr. Kincaid --

In answer to your question about the USIP headquarters project, a broad
cross-section of individuals, including current and former Board
members, have worked with Congress since the Institute's early years to
secure funding for the headquarters project. The initiative gained
momentum in 1992 when Congress approved legislation that allowed the
Institute to raise private money for the permanent headquarters. In
1996, Congress authorized the Department of the Navy to transfer to the
Institute the land at the corner of Constitution Avenue and 23rd Street
to use as a site for the headquarters building. Funding for the design
and construction of the building was included in the FY2005 omnibus
appropriations bill with the support of the leadership and members of
the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

I hope this proves helpful.

Yours,
Kay

I replied:

That's helpful, but not specific enough. You say, "Funding for the design
and construction of the building was included in the FY2005 omnibus
appropriations bill with the support of the leadership and members of
the House and Senate Appropriations Committees." Who are these leaders and
members? Every member of the committees?

Thank you.

According to her bio, King served as senior legislative assistant for foreign and defense policy to Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Delware) and worked at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and on the editorial staff of Foreign Affairs magazine.

I haven't heard back from her.

Meanwhile, Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post reports on the institute's work in Iraq. It's a story of courage. But I still don't understand why we need an official Institute of Peace to do the job, and why they need a $100 million headquarters.