Norton Amendment to Require Regular Audits of Union Station Passes in Transportation Committee

Press Release

During a marathon surface transportation bill markup, which lasted from 9 a.m. Thursday until 2:30 a.m. Friday, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) amendment to require regular audits of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation (USRC) was one of the few Democratic-sponsored amendments to pass. The Norton amendment requires a financial and management audit every two years of USRC, which manages Union Station and coordinates the transportation and retail housed there. USRC had never had a full audit until this year, when Norton requested that the Department of Transportation Inspector General conduct an audit, which is now underway. Norton said that the considerable federal investment that saved Union Station, the iconic structure that the U.S. government owns and rehabilitated, demands more consistent oversight, especially today when USRC is engaged in an unprecedented and simultaneous transformation of all aspects of Union Station. She warned that Congress is unlikely to rescue Union Station again, as it did in the 1980s, and is concerned about whether the USRC lease payments and other income are sufficient to ensure that the facility will be self-supporting in the long run.

"I particularly want to thank Chairman John Mica (R-FL), who has a consistent record of diligent work on Union Station, for his assistance in helping me get this bill passed," Norton said. "Union Station needs more than an annual financial statement to assure Congress and the public that one of the nation's most historic and productive facilities is up for the enormous challenges it now faces." There had been a lack of congressional oversight over USRC until Norton held hearings that revealed many problems, such as the absence of a master plan to coordinate major changes inside and outside of Union Station.

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