Ernst has novel approach to solving unused federal buildings problem
Senator Joni ernst (R-IA) has introduced the DISPOSAL Act, a bill aimed at addressing the issue of unused federal government buildings by selling or leasing them to the private sector. She presented the legislation with a Halloween-themed Senate floor speech, comparing the plan to the business model of Spirit Halloween, which temporarily occupies vacant retail spaces. The bill would allow the General Services Administration to sell six major federal office buildings in Washington, D.C., or lease them for up to 99 years, with the goal of revitalizing thes “lifeless” properties and generating critically important revenue for taxpayers. Ernst emphasized that this move would help reduce the national debt by turning unoccupied government real estate into productive assets. This proposal follows an earlier similar bill she introduced in June called the For Sale act. The buildings targeted for disposal mostly feature brutalist architecture, contrasting with President Trump’s executive actions promoting the beautification of federal buildings in the capital.
Joni Ernst has novel approach to solving government’s unused buildings problem: Spirit Halloween
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) has introduced another piece of legislation on Thursday, attempting to pawn off vacant government buildings to the private sector, giving a spooky-themed Senate floor speech.
Ernst introduced the DISPOSAL Act, short for Disposing of Inactive Structures and Properties by Offering for Sale and Lease Act, on Thursday. The proposed bill is aimed at providing the federal government the opportunity to not only sell but also to lease six federal office buildings to businesses. She pitched the bill on the Senate floor on Halloween eve as an idea in line with the successful Spirit Halloween business model.
“Spirit Halloween’s successful ‘body-snatching’ business model scares up a great idea for reviving the government’s graveyard of lifeless real estate. Let’s sell off these haunted houses to businesses who can breathe new life into them. That trick would be a real treat for the taxpayers,” Ernst said Thursday.
Enrst’s DISPOSAL Act would give the General Services Administration administrator the ability to “sell the Federal building for fair market value at highest and best use” or “enter into a ground lease with a term of up to 99 years.”
The proposed legislation calls on the administrator to dispose of the Frances Perkins Federal Building, home to the Department of Labor; the James V. Forrestal Building, home to the Department of Energy; the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, home to the Office of Personnel Management; the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, home to the Department of Housing and Urban Development; the Department of Agriculture South Building; and the Hubert H. Humphrey Federal Building, home to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Despite President Trump calling federal employees back to work, vacant government buildings could easily be mistaken as future locations for Spirit Halloween stores,” Ernst said in a statement. “My DISPOSAL Act immediately lists six prime pieces of D.C. real estate on the auction block and slashes through pointless regulations to fast-track the sale of the government’s graveyard of lifeless real estate to generate hundreds of millions of dollars and save taxpayers billions.”
She said the underlying goal of the bill is aimed at decreasing the national debt.
In June, Ernst proposed the sale of each of these buildings with the For Sale Act. That bill currently sits in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
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When President Donald Trump first began his second term, he passed two main executive actions related to Washington, D.C., federal buildings. One executive order called for full-time, in-person work for federal agency employees, and the other memorandum called for the beautification of federal buildings.
In the “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” memorandum, Trump called for the district’s federal buildings to “respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage.” Most of the buildings Ernst calls on to be sold are brutalist-style buildings.
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