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Lawmaker Introduces 'Drain the Swamp Act' to Force All Agencies to Leave Washington
Government Executive ^ | 10/26/2021 | Eric Katz

Posted on 10/27/2021 1:51:39 AM PDT by markomalley

A Republican lawmaker this week introduced a measure to force all federal agencies to relocate out of the Washington, D.C., area, saying it would help incorporate more perspectives into federal policymaking.

The 2021 Drain the Swamp Act (H.R. 5712), put forward by Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, would require all federal agencies to submit a plan within one year to move their headquarters out of Washington. The Office of Management and Budget and General Services Administration would have to approve the plans, which would be implemented by September 2026.

Under the new restrictions, only 10% of an agency's workforce could remain in Washington. The measure would direct agencies to maximize cost savings and consider national security implications of their moves. The bill would repeal the current section of federal statute that requires agency headquarters to be in Washington.

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


TOPICS: Government; US: District of Columbia; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: districtofcolumbia; draintheswampact; ohio; warrendavidson
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Naturally it won't go anywhere (so it is therefore nothing but theater) but I'm glad to see ONE 'pubbie doing something. Rare commodity.

Oh by the way, no cosponsors...(why am I not surprised?)

1 posted on 10/27/2021 1:51:39 AM PDT by markomalley
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To: markomalley

Trump did move the USDA office to Kansas City, MO and the BLM to Colorado (which was reversed 2/21)
You can’t say he didn’t try.


2 posted on 10/27/2021 1:57:31 AM PDT by griswold3 (When chaos serves the State, the State will encourage chaos)
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To: markomalley

I’m not sure that anything short of God himself doing a Tower of Babel encore and confounding their language so they can’t communicate will be sufficient to neutralize the swamp.


3 posted on 10/27/2021 2:24:01 AM PDT by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: markomalley

Just on cost savings...there’s probably 10-percent of each agencies actual budget detailed to life-in-DC costs.


4 posted on 10/27/2021 2:26:52 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: griswold3

They should be built in depressed areas to help the economy.


5 posted on 10/27/2021 2:49:34 AM PDT by Pardeeville Liberator
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To: noiseman

I thought the Tower of Babel was already here? They don’t understand/listen to us and we have no idea of what they are saying/doing.


6 posted on 10/27/2021 2:54:33 AM PDT by oldasrocks
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To: markomalley

Cheyenne Mountain


7 posted on 10/27/2021 3:06:48 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.)
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To: markomalley

The only prob with this is it’s sort of like with folks that move from blue to red states, bringing their atrocious vote contagion with them.

Even if the actual personnel don’t move, the folks hired into the agencies locally have a good chance of being transformed into your typical gov stooge.

There is at least some advantage of keeping them in the DC area - with a mongol-hoard type army, you could encirle the region, close in, and wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

Sure, you’d lose some conservatives along the way, but given DCs 90% dem voting history, it could be considered an acceptable loss.


8 posted on 10/27/2021 3:15:09 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: markomalley; Ohioan; HarleyLady27; Liz; V K Lee; rlmorel; GOPJ; SunkenCiv

Glad to see this bill being introduced and talked about!

In the corporate world, moving the headquarters is a well-known strategy for removing deadwood in the ranks and achieving major cost savings in labor. It would also enable the department to justify huge reductions in labor since the fat cats in Bethesda wouldn’t move to Montana.

A few years ago you could argue it was operationally impossible. Not anymore. Our national communications infrastructure is big and robust. Teleconferencing costs practically nothing now.

I would go further. Agencies need to relocate every 10 years so bureaucrats don’t become so firmly entrenched. The federal building could remain the same, but the agency working in it would shift.

Still another change: the wage federal civilian workers receive should be comparable to the private salaries in the communities they work.

Such policies will take decades to get rolling. But at least this lawmaker is out there getting the discussion going. Three cheers for Ohio!


9 posted on 10/27/2021 3:21:16 AM PDT by poconopundit (Hard oak fist in an Irish velvet glove: Kayleigh the Shillelagh we salute your work!)
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To: markomalley

One the first things second Trump administration should do - aside from defunding and abolishing several federal agencies, is move them out of Washington DC.

Firstly, this would be helpful because some would refuse to move - thus could be gotten rid of.

Secondly, the outflow of Leftists in government and their hangers-on would help to empty a lot of Occupied Northern Virginia and thus might turn Virginia back to at least purple if not red.


10 posted on 10/27/2021 3:41:24 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: fruser1

You are right. This bill would solidify big government in all fifty states, not offset it.

The problem is big government, not the distribution of big government. We need to destroy the swamp, not flood the entire country with it.

Bad idea.


11 posted on 10/27/2021 3:46:48 AM PDT by mywholebodyisaweapon ("Carthago Delenda Est")
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To: markomalley

It would be better to just CLOSE certain “agencies” for the good of the country. # 1 on my hit list is the Marxist Department of Education.

Fewer RINOs and we can get it done.

T]he Federal Register indicates there are over 430 departments, agencies, and sub-agencies in the federal ...


12 posted on 10/27/2021 3:47:24 AM PDT by Cen-Tejas
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To: FLT-bird

On the one hand, it’s well known how difficult it is to fire civil servants. Their union provides very strong protection. But, on the other hand, Joe Biden waved his magic wand and declared that any civil servant who didn’t take the jab would simply be fired. The union shrugged.

I always joke that the president should create branch offices in Greenland and transfer FBI agents there. Doesn’t have to be Greenland. Doesn’t have to be only FBI. But mandating that these civil servants have to live somewhere that they definitely don’t want to live seems like an excellent way to wave a magic wand and provide a pretext for firing the people who “can’t be fired”.


13 posted on 10/27/2021 3:48:25 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Alec Baldwin has killed more people than the Jan 6 protesters. And he will serve less jail time.)
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To: markomalley
...but I'm glad to see ONE 'pubbie doing something.

Doing what? Introducing legislation that will go absolutely nowhere? What does that accomplish...other than get him probably his first headline since his election to Congress?

14 posted on 10/27/2021 3:48:42 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: markomalley
The "swamp" is as much an idea as "one nation under God".
Being in a geographical location only consolidates the power of the idea that the swamp is good.

Break up the consolidation and the idea is more easily overwhelmed.


THAT'S the education we need to hammer children with during their early fertile years.

America started as an idea that took root in the minds of men willing to sacrifice FOR that idea.

Kids in government indoctrination centers today get none of that.

15 posted on 10/27/2021 3:54:28 AM PDT by knarf
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To: FLT-bird
Firstly, this would be helpful because some would refuse to move - thus could be gotten rid of.

Biden probably accomplished more in terms of headcount reduction with his vaccine mandate than Trump did with moving to minor agencies out of Washington.

16 posted on 10/27/2021 3:56:16 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: noiseman

“confounding their language so they can’t communicate”

I always thought it would be cool if some day all the media critters would open their mouths to speak, and go full glossolalia.

But your idea is even better, with it happening tho the Congress and Senate critters. Cheney, etc.


17 posted on 10/27/2021 3:57:42 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (When government fears the people, there is liberty. Don't forget his And cohort)
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To: markomalley

Most federal agencies should be disbanded. All they are is money pits full of useless people.


18 posted on 10/27/2021 4:11:35 AM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: markomalley

Not a great idea. They need to shrink FEDGOV, not spread it out. Creates incentive to expand it even more. See what Byrd unintentionally did to Clarksburg, WV for the $$$.


19 posted on 10/27/2021 4:18:01 AM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: Pardeeville Liberator

This should be applied to Congress. Send them to DC twice a year to do the nation’s business. After they take care of their agenda, they must go back HOME. The problem is that after these clowns are elected, they buy homes in DC and become “citizens of DC”. They only go home to raise money and scam voters.


20 posted on 10/27/2021 4:44:31 AM PDT by Machavelli (True God)
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