"Cutting Costs, Adding Value: The Future of Federal Property"
2025-12-11
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Source: Congress.gov
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Without objection, so ordered. Chair also asks unanimous consent that members not on the subcommittee be permitted to sit with the subcommittee at today's hearing and ask questions without objection, so ordered. As a reminder, if members wish to insert a document into the record, please also email it to documentsti at mail.house.gov. Chair now recognizes himself for the purposes of an opening statement for five minutes.
I want to thank our witnesses for being here today as we examine the federal real estate portfolio. Earlier this year, the subcommittee held a hearing to discuss how we could make federal real estate work for the American taxpayer. Legislation that Congress has enacted, like the USED Act and the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act, or the FASTA, are intended to operate in lockstep to improve abysmal space utilization rates, hold agencies accountable for the amount of space they use, and right-size the federal footprint. As the Public Buildings Reform Board continues to deliberate its next round of recommendations, I look forward to hearing about the progress that's been made since our last hearing and ensuring that reforms we passed last year are helping. With an anticipated $5.4 billion in savings from its second round, recommendations, this next round serves as an opportunity to realize even more savings for the taxpayer. I'm also pleased that the GSA is taking aggressive action to reduce costs, including taking steps to move HUD to allow for the sale of the Weaver Building. Shaving off excess, however, will not unilaterally rectify the numerous challenges we face in federal property as the maintenance of the buildings is becoming increasingly costly to upkeep. The deferred maintenance liability grew from a mere billions of dollars in fiscal year 2017 to a whopping $6 billion by fiscal year 2022, and that's just what the GSA reported. In fiscal year 2022, civilian agencies reported a collective deferred maintenance liability of $80 billion. We need to get a handle on these costs and the administration is moving to reduce taxpayer liability and costs. But there are critical authorities and tools we provided to the GSA in reforms signed into a law on a bipartisan basis in January of this year to ensure those tools can effectively be used, and it's important that the GSA ensures the key deadlines are met.
For example, in January of 26, all federal agencies should be reporting to the GSA, the OMB, and Congress the data on their space occupancy, methodology used, and utilization rates and the costs associated with any excess space. Also, by next month, all federal office space is required to have an actual building utilization rate of at least 60% and those buildings that don't have that utilization rate have then one year to correct or the agencies are moved out and the space is either sold or relinquished. Finally, Next January, the OMB and the GSA are to submit a plan to consolidate federal agency headquarters in the National Capital Area to meet the minimum 60% building occupancy rate. The GSA was required to amend its occupancy agreements with its tenant. agencies to ensure those agencies agree to provide the data that GSA needs. The GSA's proposed capital investment projects are required to prioritize buildings that meet or exceed the 60% utilization threshold. There are additional requirements on the information provided to the committee and prospectuses, and the GSA is now required to report on key milestones on all prospectus-level projects. It is critical for the GSA to meet these deadlines and requirements, not only to save taxpayer dollars, but to ensure accountability and transparency over the long term. Chair looks forward to hearing from the GSA on where we are in right-sizing the portfolio and implementing these reforms. While the state of federal real estate continues to face an uphill battle, the policies of this Congress and this administration have and will continue to accelerate this important corrective work.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the witnesses for being here today for this important hearing. This hearing is about two things, cutting costs and adding value. That is the standard that the public expects from us, and it should be the standard that we expect from ourselves. Federal property is expensive, it can be complicated, and central to how government serves people. When we get these decisions right, taxpayers save money, and the agencies work better when we get them wrong the public pays twice once in tax dollars and again in the quality of service that they receive when i was mayor of phoenix real efficiency never came for from swinging an axe it came from discipline planning knowing exactly how each decision affected the people we the people we were there to serve government is not a corporation reworking a balance sheet It is a network of public responsibilities. Cuts that ignore that reality don't create efficiency. They undermine it. And we don't have to theorize about that. We just lived through it. Doge, the billionaire tech bro failure known as the Department of Government Efficiency, was a textbook example of what happens when you chase cuts without understanding value. It drove federal property decisions at a speed and scale that outran planning, operational needs, and basic due diligence. Agencies were told to vacate buildings before replacement space was ready. These decisions were driven by targets and assumptions, not by reliable, validated information about how federal space was being used or which functions depended on it.
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