During the first week of President Trump at the White House, the Ministry of Governmental efficiency in Elon Musk It was identified Early focus of the cost reduction process: canceling rental contracts for federal buildings that are unused.
The MUSK team has since received credit for completing the rental contracts for hundreds of real estate across the country, including some federal workers in the service of internal revenue, food and medicine administration, the Ministry of Energy and the National Park Service.
So far, Mr. Musk Group said the effort will save about $ 500 million. But the Trump administration’s attempt to cancel rental contracts and empty the huge amounts of federal properties have reached a great stumbling block in recent weeks, as legislators and some agency officials say that these efforts can undermine vital government services and conflict with the requirements of the administration to return federal workers to the office.
The officials in the Public Services Department, an agency that manages the real estate portfolio of the federal government, says they reflect more than 100 terms the lease. This includes the Office of the Energy Department in New Mexico runs a warehouse of nuclear waste, and an office used by the American Army Engineers Corps who respond to hurricanes in Florida.
Turnabout comes after the agency has issued a list this month of more than 440 federal properties that can be sold, including many headquarters for departments at the cabinet level, before that. Remove the entire stock The next day with a little interpretation. The chaotic effort to reduce the volume of the real estate government portfolio is another example of the setbacks faced by the Trump administration as a race official to implement the president’s policy agenda.
Administration officials say they will provide taxpayer money through sales and an end to the “unexploited” federal office space and “elaborate” buildings. Stephanie Joseph, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in a statement last week, that the start of Mr. Trump’s second term, GSA 827 sent notifications to end the rent and 117 messages, some of which were canceled. Officials refused to provide a full list of canceled rental contracts.
Ms. Joseph said that the agency is still “exploring” the cancellation of more than 1,000 contracts contracts that the agencies are no longer determined as critical, a step that it said “will lead to great savings for taxpayers.” She added that the cancellation of some termination messages was “based on the reactions from customer agencies”, and that the officials asked for more information from the agencies last month before sending the termination notifications. GSA said in a statement that it would also work with agencies to secure alternative spaces for the facilities facing the public.
The agency numbers are slightly different from those published by Mr. Musk, which determined 793 End of rent For the facilities used throughout the country. The White House did not respond to suspension requests.
Some lawmakers, including Republicans, have expressed concern about the efforts to close federal offices in their regions. Actor Tom Cole, Republic of Oklahoma, said that many local offices will remain open after working with Mr. Musk and Administration.
“I am pleased to announce that the proper logic has prevailed, as the National weather center in Norman, the Social Security Administration Office in Luton, and the Indian Health Services Office in Oklahoma City will work in Oklahoma,” said Mr. Cole. Social media This month.
However, the three offices still seem to be listed on the cancellation list on the website of the Ministry of Government efficiency.
The MUSK team also received the credit for ending the rental of the Ministry of Energy Office in Karlsbad, NM, the potential cancellation of this rent, which sparked the warnings between the legislators because the office is responsible for managing the waste isolation factory, which is the only permanent warehouse for the country underground for nuclear waste.
Senator Bin Ray Logan, New Mexico Democrat, said that the office was decisive to national security and environmental safety and that an attempt to close it was “reckless.”
“It is another example of how Elon Musk and President Trump undermine the federal government and our national security with complete ignorance of the consequences,” Mr. Logan said in a statement. “While GSA confirmed that the lease contract will not be terminated, I will continue to stand strongly to protect federal workers that this administration continues to target it.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Energy said that GSA canceled its previous notification to end the contracts of multiple management attachments contracts, ensuring that “these critical operations in the task continue without disturbance.”
Other federal agencies said it reflects some rental cancellation and was seeking to decline more. The agency officials indicated the importance of the work of their employees and the need for the office space after the Trump administration announced a distance from most of the federal employees.
The US Army Corps to Engineers in Jacksonville, Florida, is scheduled to be completed by August 31 before the building administration received a letter to cancel the termination, according to a spokeswoman for the Jacksonville region. This date had decreased in the middle of the hurricane season, usually a crowded time for the region. Michel Roberts spokeswoman said the branch workers are dragging the entire state response tasks in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Mr. Musk team also set an end to the lease contract for the American Army Engineering Corps office in Chicago. Jacob Zdroioski, a agency spokesman for Chicago, said the agency is seeking to reversed the cancellation, along with another end in Griffiths, Indiana.
“We are actively working with GSA to reflect the termination in both sites,” said Mr. Zdrojewski. “With the requirements for returning to work for this new administration, we ask for seats for all the boycott employees, so if it is not possible to reverse the termination, the GSA is required to find new sites that can accommodate all current employees.”
Mr. Zdrojewski said that canceling lease contracts can have long -term effects. He said that employees may be asked to work outside other sites, which leads to the loss of experienced employees if it is not possible to transfer workers. He added that space loss may also hinder the ability to respond to the agency’s emergency situations.
In fact, other facilities that seem to be listed on the DOGE website are not closed on the web. The lease contract for the attachment of approximately 50,000 square feet is still used by the Saint Louis Food and Drug Administration running on the site. But a spokesman for the FDA (FDA) said last week that the Saint Louis Laboratory will remain open.
The Trump administration is still moving forward in many other fines. Zia Yonnan, CEO of Jonah Real Estate, said that his company had received a notification of the end about three weeks ago compared to about 100,000 square feet of the area used by the Tax Authority in one of the company’s buildings in Phoenix.
Mr. Yunnan said that the decision was puzzled because the space seemed to be occupied by the workers. He added that the Tax Authority lost the area, could be affected by taxpayers.
Mr. Yunnan said he tried to call GSA several times, but he did not receive a letter to cancel the cancellation.
The Trump administration’s attempt to empty federal real estate and provide taxpayer dollars is not a new idea. Biden management also He sought to reduce the real estate portfolio of the federal government. The federal government has long struggled to determine and remove unnecessary property, and reached 370 billion dollars in maintenance and reform, according to another Government Accountability Office report.
David Maroni, director of the physical infrastructure team at the Government Accountability Office, said that there are opportunities for the federal government to reduce its real estate portfolio, but it was important that officials had a plan to generate the largest number of savings.
He pointed out that there are many changes that the Trump administration ordered that would affect the space of government needs, including payment to reduce the workforce and the Federal workers’ condition to return to the office.
“All these moving parts indicate the need for some deliberate planning,” said Mr. Maroni.
