Denham Touts GSA Legislation
Congressman Jeff Denham is leading an effort to cut the spending of the federal General Services Administration.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed thirteen resolutions yesterday that will reduce the amount of office space utilized by the federal government, and put more employees in less space.
“We have worked hard to change the way government does business, and will continue shrinking the size of federal real estate holdings to save hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on lease payments,” says Denham, who is the Subcommittee Chairman. “Since the beginning of this Congress we have saved $30 million dollars in annual lease payments and $500 million dollars over the life of the leases.”
Denham says the legislation passed yesterday will save $180 million in funds that would have gone to property leases. It is a minimal amount, when compared to the federal governments estimated $15 trillion debt.
Denham, a Republican whose District 19 covers Tuolumne County, has pointedly claimed that the GSA annually wastes millions of taxpayer dollars with, “out of control conferences, exorbitant bonuses, grab bags of gifts and awards.” Denham says he will seek additional cuts, adding, “In fiscal year 2009, the federal government wasted more than $1.7 billion in operating under-used buildings. It’s obvious the system is broken and we need a new process to sell or redevelop these properties.”
Denham has also introduced the “Civilian Property Realignment Act” which he says would lead to the sale or consolidation of several government properties.
