[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1640-1641]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                PREVENTING WASTEFUL FEDERAL BOONDOGGLES

  (Mr. DUNCAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, the Orlando Sentinel published a headline 
yesterday saying ``Anger Over Courthouse Won't Die.''
  The anger concerns a proposed $60,000,000 Federal courthouse in 
Orlando that the judges are unhappy with. I have been told by an expert 
that to build what the judges want could potentially double the cost 
and send several million dollars in architect's fees down the drain. At 
$60 million, the building will already cost $195 a square foot.
  The cost is already too high. If costs explode because of spoiled 
judges, it will be far too expensive to build if we

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have any consideration at all for the poor taxpayers who are footing 
the bill.
  Too many times we have allowed Federal judges to demand Taj Mahal-
type courthouses because the money is not coming out of their pockets. 
Too often they have a taxpayers-be-damned attitude. The Commissioner 
for Public Buildings said, ``The problem here is we have some judges 
who think they should be architects.''
  Mr. Speaker, I hope the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public 
Buildings, Hazardous Materials and Pipeline Transportation of the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on which I served for 10 
years will not let this project become another wasteful Federal 
boondoggle.

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