A sub-panel of the House Oversight Committee on Government Efficiency held a hearing on Tuesday exposing billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars waste annually in outdated federal buildings.
Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, who leads the subcommittee on the implementation of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has launched a hearing denounced federal agencies to maintain their bloated real estate footprint. She pledged to keep her federal real estate portfolio “right size.”
“Here in DC, [the Government Accountability Office] In 2023, we found that the majority of federal agency headquarters buildings are less than 25% — some are not that small,” Greene said. This is more than a third of the $1 trillion that would cost you to restore if not sold. ”
Under Biden, DC collapsed. Growing lots, empty offices, wasted cash.
By working together @DogeCommitteeensuring that the federal government is not hampering growth.
Cut federal real estate leases, save billions, and rebuild capital you are proud of. pic.twitter.com/q04mt6wyjd
– Rep. William Timmons (@Reptimmons) April 8, 2025
It is found in the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Flag included Federal property management as a “high risk” area since 2003. But despite 20 years of warning, the Biden administration has allowed not only to maintain vacant offices, but also to spend billions of dollars on purchasing luxury furniture, according to a subcommittee review.
Green highlighted the early Trump administration’s moves, including cancelling nearly 700 federal leases, totaling 7.9 million square feet of space. One such cancelled lease is 15-year, $400 million contract The Biden administration has signed to house American voices and US global media agencies for its luxury office space on Pennsylvania Avenue. According to Green, the building had zero broadcasting capabilities and taxpayers would have been in Hook with an additional $130 million renovation.
John Hart, CEO of WatchDog Group Openthebooks, surrounded the issue with viscerality.
“Today’s vast, overly and sometimes luxurious federal real estate portfolio is a monument to an administrative state, and also the spirit of American taxpayers of lost dreams, opportunities and freedom,” Hart said in his opening statement. “Do federal government employees need seven abstract contemporary art to run the government?”
Hart testified that the agency has spent $4.6 billion on furniture since fiscal 2021. $284,000 in the FEMA meeting room And almost $120,000 for a leather recliner For the US Embassy in Islamabad. Heart also quoted $238,000 CDC spent on solar picnic tables This was “should not have been available,” he said, due to the institution’s own social distancing rules.
GAO’s David Marroni reflected concerns about dysfunction and inertia within federal property devices.
“The pandemic has put a spotlight on these long-standing issues,” Marloni told lawmakers. “The federal government has kept too much space and is ejecting shortages of property too late. Progress has been slow. Agents have been in meeting mode for too long.”
Marroni said starting this summer, the agency has been forced to begin tracking actual building usage data.
Democrats on the panel said the Trump administration’s swift disposal plan was ideologically driven and economically reckless.
“I think it’s very clear that part of the agenda here is actually dismantling the administrative state and using the actual federal assets to do so.” I said At the hearing. “The point here is that things don’t always appear in Washington, DC. I think it’s very clear that this isn’t about federal taxpayers and Americans. It’s about federal property and firefighters’ disposals to make wealthier people more wealthy. I’m grateful.”
Republicans fought back. Texas Rep. Pat Fallon cited GAO’s findings that 17 of the 24 largest federal agencies used less than 25% of their office capacity. Republican South Carolina Rep. William Timmons said the goal is to remove waste and inject new life into dead office spaces. They cited the reforms below Federal Property Management Act and Federal Asset Sales and Transfer Act 2016 as a roadmap for future integration.
“We guarantee that developers (big bad developers) will come in,” Timmons said. “They’re going to build this big building, put homes in and pay taxes. That’s the best and best use.”
Green said the Doge Subcommittee was introducing legislation aimed at streamlining the process of disposing of surplus federal property, and to impose strict accountability measurements on future property acquisitions. She also said the subcommittee will work closely with the White House and GAO to accelerate sales and lease the end.
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