WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, joined several of her congressional colleagues in sending a letter to the Trump administration highlighting provisions, signed into law last month as part of the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024 (WRDA), that provided authority for the Trump administration to right-size the Federal real estate portfolio, saving money for the U.S. tax payer.

In the letter addressed to Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought, Acting Administrator of the General Service Administration (GSA) Stephen Ehikian, and Commissioner of the Public Building Service Michael Peters, the lawmakers refer to the “Public Buildings Reforms” provisions location in Title III of Division B of WRDA 2024. This title of the law gives the administration new authorities to improve the management of the federal government's real estate portfolio, address the inefficient utilization of federal office space, and require federal agencies to bring employees back to the office or lose office space.

“To maximize the effectiveness of these provisions, it is critical that implementation begins as soon as possible to meet deadlines and take full advantage of the authorities provided to the administration in this legislation,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Even if 100 percent of the Federal employees returned to the office, the taxpayer would still be paying for excess space. For example, one agency that was the subject of GAO’s 2023 review reported that, even if all their employees came into the office on the same day, only 67 percent of their headquarters building would be utilized,” the lawmakers continued.

BACKGROUND:

Chairman Capito was joined in sending this letter by U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Chairman of the EPW Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, and Representatives Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, and Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Chairman of the T&I Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee.

In 2023, the GAO conducted a review of the utilization of 24 agency headquarters buildings to understand how the federal government is utilizing its real estate portfolio. The report showed that on average, 17 of the 24 agency headquarters reviewed were at 25 percent or less utilization, with some agencies as low as nine percent.  

Since the publication of the GAO report, the Committee leaders have been working to increase utilization of Federal office space and offload buildings and leases that are unused or underused. In the letter, the Committee leaders point out that the public buildings reforms included in WRDA 2024 aim to do exactly that.

Full text of the letter is available here. 

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