A Democrat on the Home Oversight Committee accused the Trump administration of offloading federal actual property in a haphazard “fire sale” as Republicans intention to chop wasteful authorities spending by promoting unused or underutilized authorities buildings.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., the rating Democrat on the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) subcommittee, took problem with the Trump administration’s strategy throughout a listening to on Tuesday on lowering the federal actual property portfolio.
“The Trump administration is currently taking a fire sale approach of looting the federal government and stripping it for parts to pay for tax cuts that we know will come up in their reconciliation deal,” the lawmaker stated.
DOGE is working with the federal authorities’s Basic Companies Administration (GSA) to “rightsize” its portfolio and lower wasteful spending. GSA has produced probably the most financial savings throughout federal companies, based on the official DOGE web site.
AMERICANS GRADE DOGE AND ELON MUSK’S EFFORTS WITHIN THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., is the rating Democrat on the DOGE subcommittee. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Photos, FIle)
The GSA’s cost-cutting efforts have already resulted in practically 700 lease terminations, eliminating 7.9 million sq. toes of federal workplace area and saving taxpayers roughly $400 million, based on subcommittee chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
John Hart, CEO of Open the Books, testified that $1 billion might be saved on furnishings alone by not renewing leases on authorities buildings which are set to run out in 2027.
David Marroni, director of bodily infrastructure on the U.S. Authorities Accountability Workplace, testified that no authorities company “had a great track record in terms of the utilization” of their bodily headquarters’ footprints.
Marroni stated there might be substantial financial savings in lowering authorities workspaces.
“It’s about $8 billion a year on owned and leased office space, so any reduction is going to generate a lot of money,” he stated.
DOGE HELPS COAST GUARD SAVE NEARLY $33M BY ELIMINATING ‘INEFFECTIVE IT PROGRAM’
Democrats on the listening to lobbed criticism at President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who’s main the DOGE effort, with Stansbury accusing DOGE of being “a front” to assist billionaires “who are trying to privatize public services.”
“And just this week, we have seen, as Elon Musk is on his exit out of the federal government, he has secured billions of dollars in new contracts across the federal government. Conflict of interest? Yes, absolutely,” Stansbury stated.
The congresswoman claimed that Musk has secured contracts and guarantees for contracts on the Division of Protection and NASA, and is asking to put in SpaceX’s Starlink Wi-Fi at federal companies. Starlink, which is a subsidiary of Musk-owned SpaceX, was reportedly put in on the White Home final month.
“And we understand that there is the potential to potentially deploy his AI technology across the federal agencies to replace the tens of thousands of federal employees that have recently been illegally fired,” Stansbury claimed.
As of Tuesday, DOGE claims on its website that it has saved Individuals $140 billion, or about $870 per taxpayer.
Fox Information Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.
