Eliminating Government Waste

Dear Friend,

Government waste. It’s not hard to find if you just look.

According to a report just released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 17 federal agencies are currently using “25 percent or less of their headquarters buildings’ capacity.” That’s right, over three-quarters of this office space is just sitting empty.  At some agencies, usage rates are as low as nine percent.

In reality, excess office space was a federal government problem long before the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant increase in teleworking, and the problem has gotten worse.  GAO looked at 24 agencies’ Washington, DC headquarters in total, and none of them are even using 50 percent of those office spaces. On top of that, almost a third of bureaucrats now live outside their assigned work areas.

Right now, taxpayers are spending around $7 billion a year to operate and maintain, or to lease office space in federal buildings—regardless of whether or not it’s being used. Taxpayers are quite literally paying to keep the lights on. Yet, agencies still want to keep the marquee on the building, even if nobody is there. It’s ridiculous.

This has been a huge waste of taxpayer money for many years, but the failure of these agencies to get employees back into the office is causing all kinds of additional headaches for American families. We’ve seen all kinds of backlogs and delays for passports, permits, tax returns, and paperwork. It’s out of control.

As Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I’ve got jurisdiction over this problem, and we asked the GAO to do this study on wasted office space.  There are  several things that grind my gears about the federal government— unresponsive bureaucrats and wasting taxpayer money are certainly at the top of the list. That’s why we held a hearing earlier this month looking into this very issue. Rest assured, this is just the start of holding these agencies accountable and there’s more to come.

The bureaucrats in Washington have forgotten that they work for us, on our dime, in buildings we pay for, not the other way around. It’s time we remind them that we’re paying for it and the waste is gonna stop.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves