For Immediate Release March 10, 2011

Contact:  Leslie K. Paige 202-467-5334 Luke Gelber 202-467-5318

CAGW Issues Spending Cut Alert: Unload Excess Federal Property

(Washington, D.C.) –Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) issued its weekly spending cut alert aimed at divesting the federal government of billions of dollars in excess property. According to a February 10, 2011 Government Accountability Office report (GAO) report, “In fiscal year 2009, 24 federal agencies including the Department of Defense reported 45,190 underutilized buildings that cost $1.66 billion annually to operate. GSA specifically holds 282 excess or otherwise underutilized buildings that cost $93 million annually to operate.”

The GAO defined excess property as property or buildings that have no further program use; GAO also cited underutilized properties, counseling that those properties be consolidated, which would enable the government’s primary landlord, the General Services Administration (GSA), to dispose of additional property. GAO identified numerous obstacles in finding solutions to excess federal properties, including the large number of stakeholders that have a vested interest in the acquisition, maintenance, and disposal of property, including local and state governments, private realtors, and advocacy groups.

On March 2, 2011, President Obama called for the creation of a special panel to accelerate the government’s divestiture of excess federal property, with a goal of realizing savings of $15 billion over three years. The President’s concept, which would require legislative action, would be to establish an independent group from both the private sector and public sector which would be charged with streamlining the disposal process. According to a March 3, 2011 CNN report, “Under the government proposal, the new panel would present Congress with ‘bundles’ of properties identified as unneeded for an up-or-down vote on whether to sell them.” This follows on a previous presidential directive from June 10, 2010, when agencies were directed to identify and eliminate excess properties.

“The federal government needs to get over its longstanding edifice complex. Excess property weighs on the federal budget like a massive bricks and mortar millstone,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “CAGW applauds the President’s effort to more rapidly reduce the country’s inventory of vacant, underutilized structures. The burden of a $1.6 trillion deficit and a $14 trillion national debt means that the administration and Congress should be scouring every nook and cranny of the federal budget for savings. It is time to unload these unneeded properties.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government. The Spending Cut of the Week calls attention to a federal program that is wasteful or duplicative.