Subcommittee to examine costly leases and property vacancies
The federal government could soon shrink its real estate footprint, with a renewed push to offload properties under the Trump administration. The House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) has announced a hearing to examine how Washington manages, and potentially mismanages, its vast property portfolio.
The hearing, titled “Federal Foreclosure: Reducing the Federal Real Estate Portfolio,” will discuss the costs of maintaining federal buildings, how well those assets are tracked, and how much of the burden is falling on taxpayers.
The DOGE panel said it will also “review the Trump Administration’s efforts to streamline the federal property footprint and explore additional strategies to ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”
“The US federal government has been an irresponsible landlord for decades, squandering tens of billions of taxpayer dollars,” said subcommittee chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). “It cannot accurately track the properties it owns, including their condition, usage, or financial value, and continues to spend billions annually on vacant buildings.”
Greene claimed that during the pandemic, “the Biden Administration retained nearly all federal properties and leases while spending millions on new office furnishings for empty buildings.
“President Trump and his administration are taking decisive action to end this egregious waste of taxpayer dollars. The DOGE Subcommittee will work with this administration to right-size the federal government’s property footprint and ensure it acts as a responsible steward of taxpayer-funded real estate,” Greene added.
Deleted federal properties for sale
Last month, the Trump administration published a list of over 440 federal properties it had flagged as “not core to government operations.” The list featured a wide array of assets, including the FBI headquarters, the main Department of Justice building, courthouses, offices, and even a parking garage, spanning nearly every US state.
But just hours later, the list was cut down to 320 properties. All buildings located in Washington, DC were quietly removed. By Wednesday morning, the list was no longer available on the General Services Administration (GSA) website. Instead, a placeholder message appeared: “Non-core property list (Coming soon).”
The GSA, which manages government-owned property, didn’t respond to questions about the abrupt changes. However, in an internal email obtained by the Associated Press, the agency’s buildings division said the list had drawn “an overwhelming amount of interest” and would be re-posted “in the near future” after the agency reviewed feedback and clarified the listings.
While the agency emphasized that inclusion on the list doesn’t mean a building is immediately for sale, it also left the door open for potential buyers.
“[The agency] will consider compelling offers” and do “what’s best for the needs of the federal government and taxpayer,” the email said.
Trump terminates leases
Even before the new property list surfaced, the DOGE subcommittee had already started trimming. In February, the subcommittee announced it had terminated leases on approximately 2.3 million square feet of federal office space.
The department also reported a sweeping set of cost-cutting moves resulting in an estimated $55 billion in savings. Those savings came from a mix of fraud detection, contract and lease cancellations or renegotiations, asset sales, program and workforce reductions, and regulatory changes.
Read next: Trump guts agency managing federal real estate properties in Oregon
Earlier this month, the GSA confirmed plans to sell off about half of all federal properties it oversees.
President Trump, who’s long criticized what he calls a bloated federal bureaucracy, has described the government as being full of “people that are unnecessary.” His administration has ramped up layoffs of federal employees as part of a broader strategy to curb waste and tighten federal spending.
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