Starting out with the GSA budget request, the administration isasking for $481.6 million in discretionary budget authority, whichincludes the request of a $300.2-million budget authority for theFederal Buildings Fund, $172.9 million for GSA operatingappropriations, and an additional $8.5 million for the presidentialtransition. Of interest to the Washington, DC real estate communityis the proposal to build a new home for the Department of HomelandSecurity, whose operations are still spread out in more than 60different locations. GSA funding would also be provided tomodernize the land port of San Ysidro, CA, one of the largest inthe world.

The fiscal year 2009 budget request also includes $66.6million--a modest increase of slightly more than half a millionfrom the previous year--in funding for the Office of FederalHousing Enterprise Oversight, which regulates Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac.

Accompanying this request is a call for legislation tostrengthen OFH, especially given the risks that GSEs now face inthe current mortgage market crisis, according James Lockhart,director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight."The need for an empowered, unified regulator is even more criticalthan in the past."