EDITORIAL: Empty federal office space costing American taxpayers

Remote work has decimated big city commercial office properties. It’s also costing U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars.

Last year, the Government Accountability Office said that, “on average, the headquarters of federal agencies are about 20 percent occupied each week,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Daily Mail, Washington spends $2 billion a year maintaining offices and more than $5 billion annually on leases. “It just takes a little common sense to consolidate and get rid of excess space,” David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, told the paper. “The private sector does it all of the time, so there is no excuse for the federal government not to do this.”

Indeed. Democrats and Republicans in Washington agree on precious little, but a move to sell or consolidate unused federal office space has bipartisan support. On Tuesday, the House passed by unanimous voice vote the Federal Use It or Lose It Leases Act. The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Chuck Edwards, a North Carolina Republican, would prevent the federal government from expanding its lease footprint or purchasing office supplies and furniture while employees continue to work remotely. It also requires federal tenants to report annually on occupancy rates and the use of office space.

The legislation dovetails with a White House proposal to give the General Services Administration more authority to dispose of excess or underused holdings. This will “accelerate GSA’s efforts to right-size the real estate portfolio,” the GSA’s Robin Carnahan said in a statement. Such a move would “yield big returns for taxpayers.”

According to Federal News Network, the GSA expects that selling targeted properties “would eliminate up to 3.5 million square feet and would save the federal government $1 billion over 10 years.”

The House proposal was approved as an amendment to another bill that would force the government to consolidate or sell office space if occupancy rates fall below 60 percent.

Yet while congressional Democrats and Republicans — and the president — all embrace the concept, Washington remains steeped in inertia. The Journal reports that previous efforts under the Obama administration to more efficiently use federal commercial real estate made it out of Congress but “spurred little action.”

Congress mustn’t make the same mistake. The Senate should pass this legislation and also give the GSA more power to move property. Then Republicans should ride herd on reluctant bureaucrats to ensure the taxpayers don’t continue to eat millions of dollars a year in vacant office space.