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Central Valley congressman wants taxpayers to know what empty federal buildings are costing
Los Angeles Times ^ | March 3, 2016 | Sarah D. Wire

Posted on 03/03/2016 7:49:00 AM PST by george76

The federal government spends more than $1.7 billion a year to maintain 770,000 empty buildings while other agencies are leasing or buying new space, and Rep. Jeff Denham is fed up.

This is something that hasn’t been handled in Republican or Democrat administrations because it’s too big of a bureaucracy,” Denham (R-Turlock) said in an interview in his office. “There’s no incentive for the agencies to sell.”

He said if politicians are going to talk about cutting government waste, selling empty buildings is a good start.

...

We have very little communication between agencies,” Denham said. “We’ve seen agencies that will put out to bid huge pieces of property for the next big expansion, the next new thing that they need and only after it gets approved, then another agency goes 'Hey, wait a minute, we’ve got half of a building here.'"

...

The federal government has tried for decades to get a handle on its hundreds of thousands of office buildings, storage warehouses, courthouses, hospitals, parking garages and other structures. In California, the federal government owned more than 271 million square feet of property in fiscal 2014, according to the General Services Administration. How much of that property is not being used is not clear.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: District of Columbia; US: Maryland; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: emptybuildings; federalgovernment

1 posted on 03/03/2016 7:49:00 AM PST by george76
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To: george76

Get rid of excess employees and not needed departments and look at how many trillion we’d save.


2 posted on 03/03/2016 7:50:52 AM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: george76
Central Valley congressman wants taxpayers to know what empty federal buildings are costing
Not near as much as occupied federal buildings.
3 posted on 03/03/2016 7:56:30 AM PST by lewislynn (Ted Cruz: " I'll never have 'a plane with my name" (or a Presidential seal))
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To: george76

Our government plans to fill them with islam refuge where they can pinch off litters of new Americans and spread the disease of islam.

That is the plan of some to make America great.


4 posted on 03/03/2016 7:56:30 AM PST by soycd
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To: george76

Another area where Trump the real estate magnate will shine.


5 posted on 03/03/2016 7:56:38 AM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: bgill

Maybe a real estate developer might have some ideas on this problem. A sort of market place for agencies to shop first.


6 posted on 03/03/2016 7:56:55 AM PST by Oldexpat
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To: george76

Somehow I’m sure Diane Feinstein’s has a hand in this.


7 posted on 03/03/2016 8:00:17 AM PST by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: george76

Hey Rep. Denham, Trump will take care of this the first month he is in the Oval Office. AND THAT IS WHY DC IS IN A PANIC. How many of these hundreds of thousands of buildings are associated with the DC mob. They know they will be losing easy money.


8 posted on 03/03/2016 8:02:54 AM PST by ProudFossil (" I never did give anyone hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell." Harry Truman)
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To: lewislynn

My husband and I were talking about that yesterday. Why can’t the Congrssional office buildings in D.C. be sold to a college or university for dorms, offices, etc? Then we can use the Capitol Building for historical tours. All Congree critters can go home to their sates/districts and operate from there. With modern tech, there is no need for D.C. to be maintained. It would be more difficult for lobbiests to lobby, also.


9 posted on 03/03/2016 8:17:48 AM PST by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: goodwithagun

That’s a great idea, actually.

The odds of it happening are about the same as Salma Hayek dumping her billionaire husband and calling me for a date.


10 posted on 03/03/2016 8:19:17 AM PST by nascarnation (RIP Scalia. Godspeed)
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To: Oldexpat

Yep, a real estate developer by the name of Trump.


11 posted on 03/03/2016 8:21:26 AM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: george76

Trump will solve this the first day.


12 posted on 03/03/2016 8:22:04 AM PST by Tax-chick (I'm going to be an optimist about this.)
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To: george76
“There’s no incentive for the agencies to sell.”

Therein is the problem. If the agency sells the property they don't get to keep the money for current operations, its just go back into the general fund.

13 posted on 03/03/2016 9:10:07 AM PST by usurper (Liberals GET OFF MY LAWN)
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To: george76

I am very aware this this situation. Privatation is required including a credit for taxes unlike the government.


14 posted on 03/03/2016 10:02:02 AM PST by keving (We get the government we vote forever)
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To: george76

Wait a minute now, Nancy Pelosi said that there is no more fat in the budget, that we are down to the bone. /s off


15 posted on 03/03/2016 10:24:51 AM PST by falcon99
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