At a House DOGE Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) slammed attacks on the federal real estate portfolio by Republican lawmakers.
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00:00And with that, I yield to ranking member Stansbury for her opening statement.
00:05All right. Well, good morning. I always enjoy a field hearing, and it's nice to be out in the field here in Washington, D.C.
00:12I'd like to thank the chairwoman for holding this hearing focused on properties that the federal government manages.
00:19The General Services Administration, or GSA, manages roughly 9,000 federally-owned properties and private sector leases in all 50 states and territories.
00:30Federal real estate is what makes it possible for the civil service to serve the American people.
00:35This is programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, care for our veterans,
00:43and all of the programs and services that are so vital to our communities, but unfortunately, as we know, are currently under attack.
00:51For more than two decades across both Republican and Democratic administrations,
00:56the Government Accountability Office identified federal property management as a significant challenge,
01:02including problems of excess and underutilized space and poor building conditions.
01:07All of that is to say that this is a longstanding issue that many administrations have worked on,
01:12and it certainly isn't something new.
01:15My colleagues and I have consistently worked to improve stewardship of federal real estate so it can better serve the American people,
01:21and that is why I would love to make this a bipartisan hearing about how we address the needs of this country
01:28and best serve the people of this nation.
01:31The last administration disposed of properties saving nearly $2 billion for American taxpayers,
01:37and recently Congress worked together to pass bills for additional tools to reform and consolidate the federal property inventory.
01:44These efforts also directed the sale of four federal buildings, including the one we are here in today.
01:51The Inflation Reduction Act also helped to facilitate property consolidation,
01:55including reducing the Department of Homeland Security footprint by over a million square feet
02:00and saving taxpayers over a billion dollars over 30 years.
02:05But instead of building on these successes and continuing to do what could be characterized
02:10as the tedious analytical work on behalf of Americans,
02:14the Trump administration is currently taking a fire sale approach of looting the federal government
02:21and stripping it for parts to pay for tax cuts that we know will come up in their reconciliation deal.
02:29Let's be clear.
02:30Republicans are trying to pass legislation right now that would give billionaires permanent tax breaks
02:37on the order of $37 trillion over the next three decades.
02:42And in order to pay for that, they are looting the federal government
02:46and taking a page out of the playbook of private equity.
02:50Take public assets, privatize them, sell them for profit, lease them back, help your buddies make money.
02:57And that is exactly what we're seeing here today.
03:00And unfortunately, we've seen this across the federal government since the Trump administration took office.
03:05In fact, we have been deeply concerned that the entire Doge effort has been a front to help support billionaires
03:12who are trying to privatize public services.
03:15And just this week, we have seen as Elon Musk is on his exit out of the federal government,
03:22he has secured billions of dollars in new contracts across the federal government.
03:26Conflict of interest? Yes, absolutely.
03:30It appears that he has recently secured contracts and promises for contracts at the Department of Defense, NASA.
03:37He has installed Starlink at the White House and is asking to install it at other federal agencies.
03:43And we understand that there is the potential to potentially deploy his AI technology across the federal agencies
03:50to replace the tens of thousands of federal employees that have recently been illegally fired.
03:56That is why we are deeply concerned about the non-data driven fire sale that the Trump administration is proposing for federal properties,
04:05such as the one we're in today.
04:08So, I am deeply distraught and dismayed that we do not have an administration witness with us here today,
04:16that GSA is not here to answer questions, that yet again, Elon Musk is not in front of this committee.
04:22And unfortunately, we have yet to see a single Trump political appointee in front of this committee or the oversight committee.
04:29So, we will continue to do our jobs to elucidate what is happening inside the federal government.
04:36I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today and I look forward to talking about how we can actually manage federal properties
04:43and the federal workforce to continue to provide the vital services that are needed for the American people.
04:51Finally, I just want to say that it is quite rich to talk about the abuse of federal properties
04:57after Donald Trump used the historic postal service building just down the street during his administration
05:03to make millions and millions of dollars from foreign governments while they came and visited him in the Oval Office.
05:10So, let's make sure that we are doing right by the American people
05:14and doing things in a way that is transparent and also in the interest of the public.
05:19And with that, I yield back.
05:22Thank you for your lot.
05:23Welcome to the is stopped talking to me.
05:26.
05:29Thank you very much.