Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings & Emergency Management

Jeff Denham, Chairman

The Subcommittee conducts oversight of programs addressing the federal management of emergencies and natural disasters, oversees agencies and programs promoting economic development, and has oversight of federal real estate programs.

Investigating GSA Waste: Full Committee Chairman John L. Mica and Subcommittee Chairman Denham are leading Congressional efforts to uncover waste of taxpayer dollars' by the General Services Administration (GSA). The more than $800,000 GSA spent on a lavish Las Vegas conference for bureaucrats in 2010 is just the tip of the iceberg of the agency's abuses.

On April 24, 2012, Chairman wrote to the GSA calling for the removal of the senior executive involved in the Las Vegas scandal and other agency abuses of the taxpayers: Region 9 Public Buildings Service Commissioner and GSA hot-tubber Jeffrey Neely. However Neely, who refused to cooperate with Congressional investigations or testify before Congress, continued to be paid by the taxpayers for another month. On March 24, GSA finally announced that Neely was no longer employed by the GSA. Unfortunately, Neely may be permitted to retire with an annual federal payment in excess of $100,000 per year.

Mica and the Committee continue to investigate GSA's outrageous and blatant waste of taxpayer dollars, including the arrangement surrounding Neely's removal from the federal dole. Their efforts to ensure such waste does not happen again include planned legislation to prevent a drawn out removal process for senior level federal executives who do not uphold their oaths of office or refuse to cooperate with Congress. (more information)

Cutting Waste in GSA's Management of Federal Property: The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is addressing the waste of taxpayer dollars caused by the government's poor management and underutilization of federally owned properties. To help achieve this goal, Economic Development, Public Buildings and Economic Development Chairman Jeff Denham introduced H.R. 1734, the Civilian Property Realignment Act of 2011. This legislation would establish a framework similar to the BRAC commission to review federal properties and make recommendations for consolidations, co-locations, redevelopment, selling or other actions. This legislation will reduce waste, increase the efficiency of the federal government, and produce billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. (more information)

One example of a wasteful government asset is the Old Post Office Building in Washington, DC. This historic, federally-owned but underperforming building has been sitting partially vacant for over a decade, costing taxpayers $6.5 million every year in operating losses. The Committee has held two hearings in the partially vacant Old Post Office to highlight the need to improve the management of such assets. In February 2012, after a decade of wasteful delay, the government finally selected a private sector company to redevelop this underutilized property. The federal government must better utilize underused assets, like the Old Post Office Building, across the country. (more information)

Shining a Light on Wasteful Courthouse Construction Projects: On November 4, 2011, the Subcommittee held a hearing to focus on the significant amount of waste in the construction of federal courthouses. Specifically, the hearing was to provide oversight over the construction of a third courthouse in Los Angeles, California, which was has been deemed to be unnecessary by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO has found that there are a number of underutilized courthouses across the country. In 2010, GAO concluded that over the last decade, 3.56 million square feet of unneeded space was built in courthouses, wasting $835 million taxpayer dollars plus $51 million annually in operating costs. In testimony provided to the Subcommittee, GAO stated that the 3rd courthouse in L.A. is unnecessary. In fact, all the judges projected by GSA could fit in one courthouse according to their sharing model based on GSA figures. (more information)

A provision to halt this wasteful courthouse construction project is also included in the Civilian Property Realignment Act. Chairman Denham and Ranking Member Norton wrote to GSA urging the agency to spend no additional funds on the current project. Nevertheless, the federal government has decided to move forward with this wasteful project to build a courthouse we don't need for judges we don't have.

Reforming FEMA & Improving Cost-Effectiveness of Disaster Programs: To cut red tape in the programs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and reduce the costs of recovering from natural disasters, help communities rebound from disasters more quickly and cost-effectively, and save taxpayers millions of dollars, the Committee approved the FEMA Reauthorization Act of 2011 on March 8, 2012. (more information)

“The Federal Government Must Stop Sitting on Its Assets”: With deficits over a trillion dollars the federal government simply cannot afford to sit on money-losing properties and empty federal buildings. The federal government is the single largest property owner in the country, but the mismanagement of these properties causes millions of dollars to be wasted in the operation of vacant and nearly vacant government buildings, sometimes while leasing costly office space in the same areas. The Committee is working to improve the federal government’s management of these and other assets in order to save taxpayers money.

A Committee Republican staff report released in October 2010, entitled “Sitting On Our Assets,” identifies significant potential savings to taxpayers through the improved management of federal property and other assets. (more information)