[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1116-H1127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   UTILIZING SPACE EFFICIENTLY AND IMPROVING TECHNOLOGIES ACT OF 2023


                             General Leave

  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on H.R. 6276.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071 and rule 
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House 
on the state of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 6276.
  The Chair appoints the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Kiggans) to 
preside over the Committee of the Whole.

                              {time}  1416


                     In the Committee of the Whole

  Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the 
Whole House on the state of the Union for the consideration of the bill 
(H.R. 6276) to direct the Administrator of General Services and the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget to identify the 
utilization rate of certain public buildings and federally-leased 
space, and for other purposes, with Mrs. Kiggans from Virginia in the 
chair.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The CHAIR. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the 
first time.
  General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed 1 
hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority 
member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, or their 
respective designees.
  The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry) and the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Larsen) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
  Mr. PERRY. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Chair, H.R. 6276, the USE IT Act of 2023, implements 
commonsense and reasonable space occupancy standards to get Federal 
employees back into the office or the agency will have to lose that 
unnecessary, unneeded, unused space.
  A recent Government Accountability Office review of how agencies were 
actually using their headquarters space here in Washington, D.C., found 
that 17 of the 24 agencies GAO reviewed used 25 percent or less of 
their space--17 of the 24, 25 percent or less of their space.
  One agency even admitted that if 100 percent of their employees 
showed up, they would still only use 67 percent of their own building.
  Even more troubling is some agencies were using only 9 percent. They 
can't even make double digits of their space. To be clear, we are not 
just paying for space to sit empty. Throughout the whole time, we are 
paying for utilities and services such as heating, cooling, lighting, 
regular power, maintenance, security for the entire space that no one 
is in.
  Empty Federal buildings are not only a drain to the Federal taxpayer, 
they also don't produce investments needed for local economies because 
nobody is in the building. There is nobody there to go out to lunch.
  The bottom line is agencies should bring Federal workers back to the 
office. The reality is underutilized space has been a chronic problem 
in Federal real estate and is one reason Federal property has been on 
the GAO's high-risk list since 2003. This problem was identified 20 
years ago, and it is still in existence today.
  In order to address the issue, H.R. 6276 would use similar metrics to 
those used by the GAO and require Federal agencies to report on their 
actual utilization rates, set a target utilization of not less than 60 
percent, and require the General Services Administration to report to 
Congress if any agency fails to meet that standard.
  Agencies will be given time to meet the 60 percent utilization 
standard, but if they fail to do so, they would have to lose or give up 
their excess space.
  Ultimately, the results of H.R. 6276 will benefit not just the 
Federal taxpayer, but also allow unused Federal buildings to be put to 
better use for the local communities.
  Madam Chair, I urge support of this bill, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Madam Chair, H.R. 6276 directs the OMB and the GSA to establish 
standards for measuring occupancy in Federal buildings. The bill 
directs the GSA and Federal tenants to use sensors to measure 
occupancy, requires the heads of Federal agencies to report occupancy 
and utilization data, and directs the GSA to notify agencies and 
Congress when occupancy in a Federal building falls below 60 percent, 
at which time GSA would be permitted to consolidate tenants.
  The bill further requires OMB and GSA to develop a plan to 
consolidate agency headquarters buildings in the national capital 
region that will result in the utilization rate of 60 percent or more.
  Now, I agree with Representative Perry's goal to reduce agency costs 
by giving up unneeded space. I have consistently made that point to him 
and others on the committee.
  I am opposed to this bill. The bill defines occupancy as the total 
number of employees physically working from their offices at least 5 
days per week. Many Federal employees may not sit at their desks all 
day every day, including Federal firefighters, disaster responders, law 
enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents, food safety inspectors, TSA 
supervisors, National Parks Service rangers, and more.

[[Page H1117]]

  These employees would not be included in occupancy counts required by 
this bill. Also not counted would be the Federal employees who work 
alternative work schedules. Federal law grants the Office of Personnel 
Management authority to promulgate regulations to administer 
alternative work schedule programs and permits agencies to allow the 
use of flexible schedules.

  This authority extends to employees of any executive agency, any 
military department, and the Library of Congress.
  To have an accurate picture of space needs in Federal buildings, all 
Federal employees occupying buildings should be counted. A full-time 
employee with an approved work schedule is still a full-time employee. 
This bill fails to consider that fact.
  I have concerns that this bill does not adequately consider the 
complexity of the Federal leasing process--a process that, frankly, is 
far too complex.
  Directing the OMB and GSA to reduce space if occupancy falls below 60 
percent sounds fiscally responsible. However, in most currently leased 
locations, if agency space is reduced, the government would still be on 
the hook for the original costs in the lease contract because most 
existing lease contracts do not include partial termination rights.
  In prospective leases, partial termination rights would increase the 
cost of leases for the government.
  Again, I want to work with the chairman and the committee to resize 
the Federal real estate footprint and reduce costs, not unnecessarily 
increase those costs. This bill falls short.
  After this period of general debate, we are going to move on to 
debate the seven amendments made in order by the Rules Committee. I 
will not be opposing any of those amendments, but, unfortunately, the 
seven amendments do not fix the underlying defects in the bill, so I 
will still oppose final passage.
  I am disappointed the Rules Committee did not make in order the 
amendment that Representative Titus offered that would have adjusted 
the calculation of the occupancy rate to include employees with 
approved alternative work schedules. This fix would have gone a long 
way toward alleviating my concerns with the legislation. Not allowing 
even a vote on this amendment is really a missed opportunity for 
bipartisanship on this bill.
  Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PERRY. Madam Chair, to my good friend, the ranking member of the 
full committee, the current administration doesn't even count every 
single employee in the Federal system. This bill, as he knows, does not 
affect flex schedules or telework schedules. It has nothing to do with 
that. We can, in this case, have our cake and eat it, too.
  We can have this bill. We can get our occupancy rate up to 60 
percent. We can pass the bipartisan amendment that myself and 
Representative Auchincloss had worked together on and is in order. We 
can try and right-size the people that actually show up to work while 
acknowledging in the Federal system that not everybody has to be in the 
office.
  Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. 
Graves), my good friend.
  Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania for promoting this legislation, for carrying it through 
the committee.
  Let me provide a little bit of background because I think there has 
been some confusion here.
  If we look at occupancy rates of Federal buildings from pre-pandemic 
to current, then 54 percent of the buildings are occupied as compared 
to pre-pandemic.
  Let me say this again. If you look at pre-pandemic occupancy and 
compare it to today, you have 54 percent occupancy as compared to what 
would have been 100 percent at the time, 100 percent of those slots 
filled.
  What this legislation does is, it says that if leases are occupied 60 
percent or less, then the government needs to give up those leases.
  My friend from Washington has brought up the fact that you have folks 
who do telework and flexible schedules and things along those lines. 
There is a 40 percent cushion, number 1. Number 2, I think something 
that is incumbent upon folks in government that are using public money 
to pay for this--let me say it again: $2 billion a year to operate and 
maintain, $5 billion a year to pay for leases. It is incumbent upon 
these folks that are managing this to make sure that you are properly 
coordinating schedules.
  If people are teleworking or have flexible schedules, that is fine. 
Just manage them in a way that maximizes the use of the space.
  Look, this is ridiculous what is going on. It is $7 billion a year. 
If we went around the Congress and asked Members of Congress, do you 
have something in your district that needs funding and you have been 
unable to get funding for, every single one of us could spend $7 
billion.
  We have been trying to fight for a new bridge crossing the 
Mississippi River for years and years now. It should have been done 40 
years ago.
  Let's be clear: It only requires divestment or elimination of the 
lease if the occupancy is less than 60 percent. What private business 
would even do that? I think it actually should be a higher standard in 
an ideal situation.
  As Chairman Perry said, according to a Government Accountability 
Office study that went through, they looked at 24 Federal agencies and 
17 of the 24 only used 25 percent of the space. This is insane. There 
is better uses of taxpayer funds.
  In closing, Madam Chair, I remind everyone here, our current 
government debt is approximately $34.5 trillion. Each individual 
taxpayer's share of that is around $257,000. I couldn't afford that. I 
don't think we need to be irresponsibly and recklessly spending 
taxpayer dollars in this environment or ever. I commend my friend from 
Pennsylvania for pushing this legislation, and I urge adoption.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer).
  Mr. BEYER. Madam Chair, I rise in firm opposition to H.R. 6276, the 
Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act.
  Contrary to what the title would suggest, this bill is an 
irresponsible partisan effort that would seriously harm not only our 
Federal workforce located in the national capital region, but simply 
ignores the practical realities of Federal jobs.

  While I agree that we should always help our agencies run more 
efficiently and decrease spending where we can, this bill reveals 
ignorance of the current process the GSA undertakes when it comes to 
contracting, evaluations, and consolidations.
  Further, the bill exempts warehouses and laboratories from its space 
restrictions, but doesn't name secure classified information 
facilities, SCIFs, as an exempted category.
  I am concerned that this would cause negative implications for local 
facilities that have been designed specifically for use of SCIFs and 
for our national defense work broadly.
  Finally, this bill offers no consideration for workers with 
alternative work schedules, people who do field work, people who work 
nontraditional hours or days, or those who have telework arrangements.
  Don't get me wrong, many of our colleagues and I support the idea of 
our Federal agencies consolidating spaces to repurpose parts of their 
budgets. They have already done that with the Patent and Trademark 
Office in my district, or to decrease spending, but this bill actually 
does the opposite because by cutting short contracts we increase 
spending.
  GSA already assists agencies with consolidating unused spaces. If you 
take out the bill language that matches what GSA is already doing, it 
is easy to read this as just a partisan ploy to move agency 
headquarters out of the national capital region and attack Federal 
employees.

                              {time}  1430

  There is no need to introduce a bill to mandate work that GSA already 
does and to threaten to remove agency workspaces because of arbitrary 
building occupancy rates.
  Madam Chair, I have invested in and managed real estate for many 
decades. This bill doesn't offer an appropriate metric to evaluate 
space usage, need, or work productivity. I didn't consider places in my 
car stores that are occupied by cars instead of people as wasted

[[Page H1118]]

space. It is a matter of appropriateness. Any Member here who would 
allow their staff to work from home would be a hypocrite to oppose this 
bill.
  We need the best and brightest to want to work for the Federal 
Government, and we want to utilize telework and nontraditional hours or 
days where it is appropriate. After all, we want the most productive 
and effective Federal workforce. Applying 1950s mentalities of butts in 
seats 5 days a week doesn't reflect the actual work that most Americans 
do. What if they need to spend every day in a SCIF or at a site visit?
  For these reasons, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to 
recommit this bill back to committee.
  If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an 
important amendment to this bill offered by Representative Titus.
  Madam Chair, this amendment would ensure that all Federal employees, 
including those using alternative work schedules, are counted for 
utilization rates at Federal buildings. This amendment would 
significantly alleviate some concerns coming from workers who use 
alternative work schedules and whose access to reliable workspaces 
would be threatened by this bill.
  Madam Chair, I include in the Record the text of the amendment.
  Mr. Beyer moves to recommit the bill H.R. 6276 to the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure with instructions to report the same 
back to the House forthwith, with the following amendment:
       Strike paragraph (7) of section 2(a) of the bill and insert 
     the following:
       (7). Occupancy.--
       (A) In general.--The term ``occupancy'' means the total 
     number of employees covered under section 6101 of title 5, 
     United States Code, that are provided a workspace in a public 
     building or federally-leased space for purposes of carrying 
     out in-person, official duties, as described under such 
     section.
       (B) Exceptions.--An employee shall be considered to be 
     covered under subparagraph (A) if such employee is a full-
     time employee for whom a Federal agency has established an 
     alternative workweek schedule pursuant to--
       (i) section 6122 of title 5, United States Code; or
       (ii) section 6127 of such title.

  Mr. BEYER. Madam Chair, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting 
for the motion to recommit.
  Mr. PERRY. Madam Chair, historically, for 20 years anyhow, while this 
problem has been identified, these issues have historically been 
bipartisan. In fact, it was former President Obama who advocated 
agencies to freeze and then reduce their space footprint, recognizing 
that agencies had far more space than they needed.
  To the gentleman who just spoke, GSA actually wants to do it. They 
want to reduce the space, but the agencies won't allow it. Why would 
they? They get so much space, and they don't have to deal with managing 
it or not. They just get the space, and they can continue on their 
other work with as much space as they need, sometimes 3,000 square feet 
per employee.
  A lot of people in America would like to have a house that is 3,000 
square feet for their whole family. If they were watching today and 
found out that the Federal Government was paying for that, that their 
taxes were paying for that when they couldn't afford it themselves, 
they would be furious.
  The Obama administration set a standard that agencies had to account 
for things like teleworking, actual space usage, and planning for the 
space. For example, in an agency that may have 1,000 people assigned to 
a building, only a portion of those people would be counted when it 
came to desks and space. It puts into consideration things like 
teleworking. The Obama administration even proposed selling the 
Department of Labor building based on this type of space utilization 
and counting.
  More recently, I know that the gentlewoman from the District of 
Columbia has previously proposed legislation to move and sell the 
Department of Energy, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
say that Republicans just want to kick Federal employees out of their 
buildings. We don't. We would actually prefer that they come back to 
work.
  Additionally, if they come back to work, I think it is very 
reasonable for us to say that we want the building to be 60 percent 
occupied. Sixty percent is, to me, a pretty good compromise with my 
friends on the other side of the aisle who are saying we just want to 
sell buildings and kick Federal employees out of their buildings.
  We don't. We want them to come to work, but we want them to be good 
stewards of the taxpayers' money and to use the space efficiently. When 
they don't need it, like everybody else would do, give up that space to 
be utilized either by other agencies in the Federal Government or by 
the political subdivision. Some town or city where that building is 
located should have the advantage to use that space so that they can 
increase their tax rolls, so that they can help their vendors out on 
the streets, and so that they can help their community.
  Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. Chair, I do think it is incumbent on me to characterize my 
position and recharacterize my friend's characterization of my 
position, which, as I recall, was to close buildings and kick out 
Federal employees.
  That is not my position. In fact, in many ways, I share the goals of 
the chair of the subcommittee, that it is clear we have much more 
federally owned and leased space than is currently being used given the 
work schedules and changes that have taken place since COVID. It is 
necessary for us to look at how best to consolidate that space, to 
rightsize that space, given its usage.
  The problem I have is the hammer approach that this particular bill 
takes by setting a hard and fast 60 percent rule rather than looking at 
the flexibility necessary when you are considering agency by agency, 
division by division within those agencies, and how that space can be 
used properly and most efficiently.
  We have worked on a bipartisan basis on the committee on a wide range 
of policies, including rightsizing the Federal real estate footprint. 
Just yesterday, we passed, on suspension, the FASTA Reform Act, a bill 
that the chairman himself sponsored that will expedite the disposal of 
excess Federal property.
  When we work together, we can make some really good progress on this 
and other issues, but today's bill does fall short by failing to take 
into account the complexity of the Federal leasing process and using an 
incomplete and flawed metric for measuring the occupancy rate of 
Federal buildings.
  I do welcome the opportunity to work with any Member in good faith, 
and we have done that, again, on many issues in the Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee. We all want to make genuine improvements on 
the Federal real estate program.
  Mr. Chair, I do oppose this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to 
do the same.
  Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the Statement of Administration 
Policy that the administration strongly opposes H.R. 6276; a letter 
dated March 12 from the AFL-CIO in opposition to H.R. 6276; a letter 
dated March 11 from the Federal Workers Alliance opposing H.R. 6276; 
and a letter dated March 8 from the American Federation of Government 
Employees opposing H.R. 6276.

                   Statement of Administration Policy


H.R. 6276--Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE 
                   IT) Act of 2023--Rep. Perry, R-PA

       The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 6276, the USE IT 
     Act, which would direct the Director of the Office of 
     Management Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of the General 
     Services Administration (GSA) to ensure that Federal 
     agencies' building utilization meets an arbitrary level of 
     not less than a 60 percent average each year and, if an 
     agency does not reach the target, GSA and OMB would have to 
     forcibly reduce the agency's space. While the Administration 
     believes that the Federal real estate portfolio needs to be 
     evaluated and optimized, the Administration believes that 
     agencies' unique missions require individualized approaches 
     to improving space utilization. H.R. 6276 does not consider 
     the varying mission and technical requirements of individual 
     agencies or the age and original design of affected 
     facilities when directing the OMB Director and GSA 
     Administrator to develop and implement a plan to consolidate 
     multiple agency headquarters functions into fewer buildings 
     within the National Capital Region. These buildings, many of 
     which are historic, would require major modernization and 
     reconfiguration, prior to supporting dramatically increased 
     occupancy levels. Instead, the Administration recommends 
     strengthening the

[[Page H1119]]

     collection of utilization data by Federal agencies and 
     providing sufficient funding to GSA and affected agencies to 
     execute necessary consolidations. The Administration is 
     committed to working with agencies to improve their 
     utilization of Federal space and to identify opportunities to 
     reduce space.
                                  ____



                                                      AFL-CIO,

                                                   March 12, 2024.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I write to 
     express our opposition to H.R. 6276, the Utilizing Space 
     Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023 (the USE 
     IT Act). The metrics mandated by this act fail to accurately 
     measure occupancy of federal buildings and leased space in a 
     manner that reflects the distinctive ways federal workers 
     perform their duties to benefit the public.
       While the USE IT Act aims to track, measure and report on 
     occupancy rates of federal buildings and federally leased 
     space, the yardstick used to measure federal building and 
     leased space occupancy is overly broad and unlikely to 
     accurately reflect occupancy rates and efficiencies. The USE 
     IT Act requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and 
     the General Services Administration (GSA) to determine 
     whether a federal agency meets a 60 percent or higher 
     occupancy rate. The 60 percent metric does not relate to the 
     mission of a federal agency, or how federal workers do their 
     jobs to achieve that mission.
       Many federal workers, such as inspectors, law enforcement 
     officers, and engineers, split their time between fieldwork 
     and federal buildings or federal leased space. Other federal 
     workers have agreements with their agency for alternative 
     workplace arrangements. The overly broad metric penalizes 
     federal agencies and their staff for long term work 
     arrangements that function well.
       The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of 
     flexibility in how and where work was performed. Federal 
     agencies had plans in place allowing federal workers in every 
     state and the District of Columbia area to continue to serve 
     the public during the pandemic, weather emergencies, or when 
     federal buildings or leased spaces are inaccessible. The 
     arbitrary 60 percent occupancy rate metric required by the 
     USE IT Act makes it less likely that federal agencies and the 
     workforce can continue to serve the public in an efficient 
     and effective manner. I urge you to oppose the USE IT Act.
           Sincerely,
                                                   William Samuel,
     Director, Government Affairs.
                                  ____



                                     Federal Workers Alliance,

                                                   March 11, 2024.
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, D.C.
       Dear Representative: We write to you as the executive 
     officers of the Federal Workers Alliance (FWA), a labor 
     coalition representing over 550,000 Federal and Postal 
     workers, to urge you to vote in opposition of H.R. 6276, the 
     Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 
     2023, also known as the USE IT Act.
       As you know, the USE IT Act would direct the Office of 
     Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services 
     Administration (GSA) to establish standard methodologies to 
     measure occupancy in federal buildings and federally leased 
     space. The bill also requires federal agencies to work with 
     GSA to implement technologies to track occupancy and usage 
     rates of federal buildings and to provide reports to Congress 
     on the collected data, GSA is then required by the act to 
     take actions against agencies in federal buildings that 
     report less than 60 percent usage rates, such as 
     consolidating building space with other agencies or selling 
     excess building space.
       In setting an arbitrary number, such as 60 percent, the 
     bill fails to account for ongoing strategic planning, current 
     changes, and future trends in accordance with the federal 
     government's space requirements. Making premature or not 
     fully evaluated rearrangements of federal space for the sake 
     of satisfying an arbitrary number is often a costly and 
     wasteful endeavor, especially if the same or equivalent space 
     must be repurchased or leased at a higher rate in the future. 
     It is better to leave these decisions to the authorizations 
     and appropriations processes within Congress, and allow those 
     decisions to overlay with GSA and the agencies themselves to 
     ensure that decisions are based on strategy and economics, 
     rather than an arbitrary number.
       The FWA further opposes the USE IT Act because OMB and GSA, 
     in addition to other federal agencies, currently measure 
     occupancy and usage rates within federally owned and leased 
     buildings. Since 2020, new technologies have been piloted to 
     collect this data and GSA reports that it has already 
     consolidated federal spaces based on occupancy rates and 
     usage data. GSA is expected to continue to track this data 
     and consolidate office space consistent with the agency's 
     current practices, therefore rendering the USE IT Act 
     unnecessary.
       OMB, GSA, and all federal agencies have been adjusting for 
     the efficient use of office space since the start of the 
     COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to do so as agencies 
     establish and implement policies relating to in-person work 
     for federal employees. Agency leaders and federal employees 
     alike now have a profound understanding of how they can best 
     utilize building space and remote work. It is our position 
     that the USE IT Act will only create obstacles for agencies 
     in carrying out their mission in service to the American 
     public.
       Thank you for considering our request. We are available to 
     provide further information about our opposition to the USE 
     IT Act of 2023. If you have any questions, please contact FWA 
     legislative cochairs Faraz Kahn or Steve Lenkan.
           Sincerely,
       Federal Education Association (FEA); International 
     Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF); International Federation 
     of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE); 
     International Plate Printers, Die Stampers, Plate Makers and 
     Engravers of North America (PPDSPM&E of N.A.); National 
     Association of Agriculture Employees (NAAE); National 
     Association of Government Employees, SEIU (NAGE); National 
     Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM); National Weather 
     Service Employees Organization (NWSEO); Patent Office 
     Professional Association (POPA); Professional Aviation Safety 
     Specialists (PASS).
                                  ____

         American Federation of


                                Government Employees, AFL-CIO,

                                    Washington, DC, March 8, 2024.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the American Federation 
     of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (AFGE), which represents 
     over 750,000 federal and District of Columbia employees in 70 
     agencies, I write to express AFGE's opposition to H.R. 6276, 
     the ``Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies 
     Act of 2023,'' which would direct the General Services 
     Administration and the Office of Management and Budget to 
     measure occupancy in federal buildings and federally leased 
     space and reduce or consolidate space if utilization rates 
     fall below 60 percent.
       H.R. 6276's stated goal is to reduce federal real estate 
     holdings and right size the federal portfolio. While there 
     may be benefits derived from studying the federal 
     government's real estate footprint, AFGE opposes the bill's 
     blunt and seemingly arbitrary metric to determine when a 
     federal agency fails to meet a 60 percent or higher building 
     occupancy rate. This metric fails in two important ways: (1) 
     it ignores the tens of thousands of federal workers, many of 
     whom AFGE represents, whose work is split, often 
     unpredictably from week-to-week, between an agency building 
     and the field, such as food safety inspectors, law 
     enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents, TSA supervisors, 
     park rangers, and firefighters, to name only a few; (2) it 
     treats alternative work schedule programs the same way, 
     making no distinction between the agency employee who, 
     pursuant to an agency workplace arrangement, teleworks one 
     day a week and the employee who teleworks two or three days a 
     week; and (3) despite a few narrow exceptions, it treats 
     personnel occupancy as the sole measure of whether a building 
     is needed, overlooking the full range of federal building 
     uses that includes healthcare, research and development, 
     equipment maintenance and repair, manufacturing, meeting 
     space, and hearing rooms. Indeed, it would be hard to find 
     many sizeable private employers who treat human occupancy as 
     the sole determinant of their space needs; yet the federal 
     government is the largest and most diverse employer in the 
     world.
       H.R. 6276's failure in the utilization rate calculation to 
     account for distinctions in the federal workforce, the role 
     of alternative work schedule programs in meeting agencies 
     recruitment and retention needs, the types of work federal 
     workers perform, and, particularly, the blurry line between 
     so-called desk jobs and jobs of a more physical nature risks 
     inaccurately producing building utilization rates that fall 
     below the 60 percent threshold. Such inaccurate calculations 
     in turn would force agencies to either consolidate with other 
     agencies or sell or dispose of ''excess space'' that in fact 
     is needed and should be retained to accommodate agency 
     employees who spend all or significant amounts of their time 
     working from an agency building.
       H.R. 6276 also ignores important lessons of the recent 
     past. As the COVID-19 pandemic vividly demonstrated, major 
     emergencies can threaten the continuity of government 
     operations, both in the District of Columbia and outside the 
     Capitol region where almost 80 percent of federal workers are 
     employed. To prepare for these crises, federal agencies have 
     adopted polices and technologies to ensure their employees 
     can perform their jobs safely, securely, and without 
     interruption from either an agency building or remotely. 
     Combining the use of alternative work schedule programs where 
     appropriate with traditional workplace arrangements has 
     contributed to this preparation, enabling federal agencies 
     and their employees to serve the public efficiently in 
     ordinary times and quickly adapt to exigent circumstances in 
     times of crisis. If enacted, H.R. 6276 would discourage 
     agencies from including alternative work schedule programs as 
     part of their contingency planning.
       Please oppose H.R. 6276, the ``Utilizing Space Efficiently 
     and Improving Technologies Act of 2023.'' if you have 
     questions or need additional information, please contact 
     Daniel Horowitz, Keith Abouchar, or Julie Tippens.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Julie N. Tippens,
                                 Director, Legislative Department.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

[[Page H1120]]

  The Acting CHAIR (Mr. Moylan). The gentleman from Pennsylvania has 20 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I do want to respond to my good friend from 
Washington.
  I didn't mean to mischaracterize his assessment or his comments. 
However, the speaker before the gentleman from Washington did 
essentially make those claims, and so I was answering that.
  While I am here, I want to characterize what the public is seeing if 
they are reading The Washington Times. Here is an article from 
Wednesday, December 6, 2023, ``Idea to fill empty Federal buildings 
with illegal immigrants,'' where DHS headquarters is 69 percent unused 
and Social Security offices are 93 percent vacant.
  No wonder offices like mine deal with so many constituent calls when 
they can't get answers from the Social Security Administration.
  We would like those folks to come back to work, but if they are not 
going to come back to work, could we stop having everybody, including 
Social Security recipients, pay for the empty building?
  Here is another one from The Washington Times, dated Thursday, 
September 21, 2023: ``Telework's empty buildings opens the door for 
Legionnaires' disease.''
  Well, isn't that wonderful? Won't that be great when the source of a 
new outbreak of Legionnaires' disease comes from a vacant Federal 
building that we are paying for?
  Here is another one, ``IG to investigate Federal offices left vacant 
by telework policies,'' from The Washington Times, and the date of this 
is Wednesday, October 18, 2023.
  Finally, ``Ghost towns: Federal office buildings are 80 percent 
vacant, government audit finds.'' This article is from The Washington 
Times, dated Thursday, October 26, 2023.
  We have an opportunity here that shouldn't be partisan and should be 
pretty simple. All we are saying is: Federal agencies, can you come 
back to work at least 60 percent? Is that too much? It is 10 percent 
above 50 percent, which would be half empty. We find that very 
objectionable, but at least 60 percent should be something we agree on.
  Mr. Chair, I include all the articles that I discussed previously in 
the Record.

               [From the Washington Times, Dec. 6, 2023]

Idea To Fill Empty Federal Buildings With Illegal Immigrants Solves Two 
                        Problems for Biden Admin


 DHS HQ is 69 percent unused, Social Security offices 93 percent vacant

                           (By Stephen Dinan)

       The Biden administration is desperate to find shelter for 
     all the illegal immigrants caught and released into the U.S.
       Perhaps they could stay in federal office buildings.
       The Department of Homeland Security's palatial headquarters 
     in Washington's southeast quadrant sits nearly 70 percent 
     vacant, according to data released this week by Sen. Joni 
     Ernst, Iowa Republican.
       The Department of Housing and Urban Development, whose 
     mission is to put Americans into homes, is even worse. Its 
     headquarters is 93 percent vacant. So is the Social Security 
     Administration's main building outside Baltimore.
       The Office of Personnel Management, the government's human 
     resources agency, is a ghost town with 88 percent of its 
     space unoccupied. The General Services Administration, the 
     government's chief landlord agency, can't fill its own 
     headquarters, with an 89 percent vacancy rate.
       Across two dozen departments and agencies, not a single one 
     was at 50 percent capacity in the first three months of this 
     year, according to Ms. Ernst's figures.
       ``While it's not the night before Christmas yet, there's 
     not a creature stirring, not even a mouse, in the halls 
     across this city,'' Ms. Ernst said in releasing the occupancy 
     figures.
       She said the Biden administration gave the numbers to her 
     but didn't want them released publicly. She defied that 
     demand, saying the public needs to know how bad things have 
     become in the federal workforce.
       ``COVID's been over for years. Where are the workers?'' she 
     said.
       The Washington Times reached out to the worst-performing 
     agencies to ask about the vacancies and their plans to 
     rectify matters.
       None of the agencies provided a comment, though in response 
     to federal officials, HUD and the Small Business 
     Administration said their spaces were undergoing renovations 
     during the test period, which contributed to a decrease in 
     attendance.
       The GSA controls more than 90 million square feet of office 
     space in the Washington region alone, and the government 
     holds about 511 million square feet nationally. GSA figures 
     on 150 to 180 square feet of usable space per employee.
       The 24 headquarters buildings for which Ms. Ernst released 
     data were operating at about 20 percent of full use.
       Occupancy is based on a building's capacity and the amount 
     of use of its space. The data was based on average attendance 
     during sample days in a three-month period from January 
     through March and was derived from sign-ins, logins and badge 
     swipes.
       While offices sit empty, many American communities are 
     overwhelmed by the surge of illegal immigrants whom the Biden 
     administration has caught and released.
       Ms. Ernst suggested a meeting of the minds.
       ``So-called sanctuary cities have run out of space to 
     shelter the influx of immigrants that the Biden 
     administration is allowing to enter the country illegally. 
     With two-thirds of the Department of Homeland Security 
     headquarters going unused, maybe the agency causing the 
     problem can solve it by opening their doors,'' she told The 
     Times.
       Homeland Security, which has a use rate of 31 percent, did 
     not respond to a request for comment on the idea.
       Exact numbers are a closely held secret, but outside 
     estimates say Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas 
     has paroled 2 million illegal immigrants into the U.S., in 
     addition to others caught and released or who sneaked in 
     altogether.
       The administration has moved to stick thousands of them at 
     a National Park Service property in New York. It signed a 
     lease with the city for the Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.
       That location lacks many amenities, and the tent city 
     erected to house the migrants sits in a flood plain, critics 
     charged.
       House Republicans, joined by a smattering of Democrats, 
     voted last week to cancel the lease and to prevent migrants 
     from being placed on other property held by federal land 
     management agencies. That legislation, which is unlikely to 
     make it through the Democratic-controlled Senate, does not 
     appear to block migrants from being placed in buildings run 
     by non-land-management agencies.
       Meanwhile, vacancy at federal buildings is an increasingly 
     touchy issue for the Biden administration, which has declared 
     the pandemic emergency over and ordered employees back to 
     work in person but has been met with resistance by those 
     workers.
       The comptroller general, in a report earlier this year, 
     prodded agencies about the matter.
       They offered a host of excuses for why they weren't filling 
     space, including preparing for a possible surge of returning 
     employees.
       Some excuses seemed more territorial.
       The audit said some agencies seemed to worry that giving up 
     their buildings or sharing space with others would make them 
     seem less powerful than other agencies.
       Even within departments and agencies, divisions were 
     reluctant to share space such as conference rooms, the 
     Government Accountability Office said.
                                  ____


              [From the Washington Times, Sept. 21, 2023]

   Telework's Empty Buildings Open the Door for Legionnaires' Disease

                           (By Stephen Dinan)

       The water supply in at least six federal government 
     buildings is contaminated with the bacterium that causes 
     Legionnaires' disease, and the problem may be even more 
     widespread, according to the inspector general who oversees 
     U.S. properties.
       One of the buildings is a work site for thousands of 
     employees, one is a post office in Chicago and one houses a 
     day care center.
       Investigators said one culprit is pandemic teleworking, 
     which has left buildings operating at less than capacity. 
     Fewer people means less water is flushed through the pipes, 
     creating a stagnant environment where Legionella pneumophila 
     can proliferate.
                                  ____


               [From the Washington Times, Oct. 18, 2023]

   IG To Investigate Federal Offices Left Vacant by Telework Policies

                           (By Stephen Dinan)

       A federal inspector general has opened an investigation 
     into telework policies that have turned some government 
     offices into ghost towns, risking the spread of disease and 
     raising questions about how agencies deliver services.
       The inspector general for the General Services 
     Administration, which acts as the chief landlord for civilian 
     executive branch agencies, confirmed the work in a letter to 
     Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, who says the government has 
     not fully grappled with a host of questions about the barren 
     buildings.
       ``My office shares your concerns about the effect of 
     telework on GSA's ability to carry out its mission 
     effectively and efficiently,'' acting Inspector General 
     Robert Erickson told Ms. Ernst in a letter, which The 
     Washington Times obtained. ``My office plans to continue to 
     devote attention to GSA's space utilization in our future 
     oversight efforts.''
                                  ____


               [From the Washington Times, Oct. 26, 2023]

Ghost Towns: Federal Office Buildings are 80% Vacant, Government Audit 
                                 Finds

                           (By Stephen Dinan)

       The Agriculture Department is headquartered at the gateway 
     between Washington and Virginia in a building rich with 
     history--but on any given day, roughly 90 percent of it sits 
     empty.

[[Page H1121]]

       That's not an anomaly.
       The Government Accountability Office surveyed two dozen 
     federal agencies and found they averaged a roughly 80 percent 
     vacancy rate during the study period earlier this year.

  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, Federal real property has remained on the GAO's 
high-risk list for more than 20 years. The Government Accountability 
Office has said this is a high risk for the last 20 years, and we are 
on the precipice. We are standing on the edge of providing a solution 
to the excess space that exists that we keep paying for.
  At the same time, our debt has gone to $34 trillion. By May, it will 
be $35 trillion. We are not going to save trillions here, but we can 
save billions here. If you start adding up billions, maybe you will 
finally get to trillions. However, we are not saving anything right 
now, and we are not going to save any of this if we don't pass this 
bill.
  This is our opportunity, Mr. Chair, to finally fix this problem, a 
problem that I will note has historically found bipartisan support to 
address the issue. Even on this occasion, when the bill was lacking, we 
had a hearing. We had a markup on it.
  Friends on the other side of the aisle said: Would you listen to a 
way where potentially we could improve it?
  Of course, we did, and we worked together. You are going to have an 
opportunity to vote on that amendment shortly.
  The USE IT Act of 2023 is reasonable. It is commonsense legislation 
that simply says that if the Federal employees don't come back into the 
office, the taxpayer is not going to have to pay for the empty space.
  We don't have any extra money in this town, Mr. Chair. Nobody has any 
extra money. Right here, we have identified it. This is where some of 
it is going unnecessarily. We can consolidate. We can sell things off.
  Some of these agencies will probably get a new building, just at the 
right size, where their workers would still have flex time, would still 
telework where appropriate, and where constituents--our bosses, the 
American people--could access the services that they pay for and 
deserve to get because they do pay for them.
  Mr. Chair, I urge support of this soon-to-be bipartisan bill, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. All time for general debate has expired.
  Pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment 
under the 5-minute rule.
  The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, printed in the bill, 
shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be 
considered as read.
  The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:

                               H.R. 6276

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Utilizing Space Efficiently 
     and Improving Technologies Act of 2023'' or the ``USE IT Act 
     of 2023''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       (a) In General.--In this Act:
       (1) Actual utilization rate.--The term ``actual utilization 
     rate'' means the total usable square footage of a public 
     building or federally-leased space divided by the occupancy.
       (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
     Administrator of General Services.
       (3) Building utilization.--The term ``building 
     utilization'' means the percentage of utilization generated 
     by comparing the actual utilization rate with the capacity 
     based on a utilization benchmark of 150 useable square feet 
     per person.
       (4) Capacity.--The term ``capacity'' means the total usable 
     square footage of a public building or federally-leased space 
     divided by a utilization benchmark.
       (5) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
     the Office of Management and Budget.
       (6) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' means an 
     executive department covered by the CFO Act of 1990 (Public 
     Law 101-576).
       (7) Occupancy.--The term ``occupancy'' means the total 
     number of employees performing duties in person in a public 
     building or federally-leased space at least 5 days per week 
     on a regular basis.

     SEC. 3. IDENTIFICATION AND DEPLOYMENT OF BUILDING USAGE 
                   TECHNOLOGY.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in coordination 
     with the Director, shall establish standard methodologies and 
     identify technologies available for measuring occupancy in 
     public buildings and federally-leased space.
       (b) Measurement of Utilization.--Not later than 180 days 
     after the date of enactment of this Act, the heads of Federal 
     agencies shall work with the Administrator to identify, 
     deploy, and use sensors and other technologies in public 
     buildings and federally-leased space, where the Federal 
     agency occupies space to measure the occupancy of public 
     buildings and leased space.

     SEC. 4. REPORTING ON USAGE OF REAL PROPERTY.

       Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, and annually thereafter, the heads of Federal agencies 
     shall submit to the Director, the Administrator, the 
     Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 
     of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and Public 
     Works of the Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations of 
     the House of Representatives and the Senate a report on--
       (1) the occupancy and the actual utilization rates of space 
     in public buildings and federally-leased space occupied by 
     the respective agency of the Federal agency head broken down 
     by building and lease;
       (2) the methodology used for determining occupancy, 
     including the period of time and other parameters used to 
     determine occupancy on a regular basis;
       (3) the utilization percentage of each public building and 
     federally-leased space by the respective agency of the 
     Federal agency head, comparing the capacity to the actual 
     utilization rate based on a utilization benchmark of 150 
     usable square feet per person; and
       (4) any costs associated with capacity that exceeds 
     occupancy with respect to the respective agency of the 
     Federal agency head.

     SEC. 5. REDUCING UNNEEDED SPACE.

       (a) Target Utilization Metrics.--Not later than 1 year 
     after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 
     thereafter, the Director, in consultation with the 
     Administrator, shall ensure building utilization in each 
     public building and federally-leased space is not less than 
     60 percent on average over each 1-year period.
       (b) Actions.--In the event that building utilization is 
     below 60 percent on average over a 1-year period described in 
     subsection (a) for any particular public building or 
     federally-leased space, the Administrator shall--
       (1) provide notice to the tenant agency informing such 
     agency of the excess in capacity along with associated costs 
     of such excess; and
       (2) notify the Committee on Transportation and 
     Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, the Committee 
     on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and the 
     Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 
     and the Senate of such excess capacity and associated costs.
       (c) Subsequent Failure.--If the tenant agency fails to meet 
     the 60 percent target under subsection (a) in the reporting 
     period subsequent to the reporting period under subsection 
     (b), the Administrator shall, in consultation with the 
     Director, take steps to reduce the space of the tenant 
     agency, including consolidating the tenant agency with 
     another agency, selling or disposing of excess capacity 
     space, and adjusting space requirements, as appropriate, for 
     any replacement space.
       (d) Prioritization.--The Administrator, in coordination 
     with the Director, shall prioritize to the maximum extent 
     practicable capital investments in public buildings where 
     Federal agencies meet or exceed building utilization metrics, 
     except that prioritization may be given to projects that will 
     result in building utilization of 60 percent or more.
       (e) Exceptions.--
       (1) In general.--The Director may provide exceptions to 
     building utilization metrics based on the amount of non-
     standard office space a Federal agency demonstrates is 
     required to meet the mission of the agency, including 
     warehouse space, laboratories critical to the mission of the 
     agency, and public customer-facing spaces driven by agency 
     missions.
       (2) Reporting.--The Administrator shall submit to the 
     Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 
     of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and Public 
     Works of the Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations of 
     the House of Representatives and the Senate a report on any 
     exceptions granted, including the justification for such 
     exception.

     SEC. 6. HEADQUARTERS BUILDINGS.

       (a) Headquarters Consolidations.--Not later than 1 year 
     after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director, in 
     consultation with the Administrator, shall submit to the 
     Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 
     of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and Public 
     Works of the Senate, and the Comptroller General of the 
     United States a plan to consolidate department and agency 
     headquarters buildings in the National Capital Region that 
     will result in building utilizations of 60 percent or 
     greater.
       (b) Contents.--The plan submitted under subsection (a) 
     shall include details on the following:
       (1) Which departments and agencies will collocate and 
     consolidate and into which buildings and associated details 
     before and after plan implementation related to building 
     utilization, building capacities, and actual utilization.
       (2) Details on the strategies for the sale or disposal of 
     buildings that will no longer be needed for Federal use.
       (3) A detailed breakdown of any costs associated with the 
     proposed consolidations and collocations.
       (4) An estimate of future savings as a result of space 
     reductions and consolidations, including costs associated 
     with energy savings and building operations.
       (c) Implementation.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     submission of the plan under subsection (a), the 
     Administrator and Director shall begin implementing such 
     plan.

  The Acting CHAIR. No further amendment to the bill, as amended,

[[Page H1122]]

shall be in order except those printed in House Report 118-419. Each 
such further amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the 
report, by the Member designated in the report, shall be considered as 
read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally 
divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be 
subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division 
of the question.


                 Amendment No. 1 Offered by Mr. Edwards

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 1 
printed in House Report 118-419.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 9, after line 5, insert the following:

     SEC. 7. FEDERAL USE IT OR LOSE IT LEASES ACT.

       (a) Reporting of Space Utilization and Occupancy Data for 
     Office Space.--An occupancy agreement between the 
     Administrator of General Services and a Federal tenant for 
     office space shall--
       (1) include language that requires the Federal tenant to 
     submit to the Administrator an annual report for the duration 
     of the agreement containing data on--
       (A) monthly total occupancy of such office space;
       (B) the actual utilization of such office space;
       (C) monthly space utilization rates; and
       (D) any other office space utilization data considered 
     important by the Administrator; and
       (2) include language that requires the Federal tenant to 
     have written procedures in place governing the return of 
     office space to the Administrator if the occupancy of the 
     Federal tenant falls below a 60 percent space utilization 
     rate for 6 months within any 1-year period, beginning on the 
     date on which the agreement takes effect.
       (b) Requirements for Federal Agencies With Independent 
     Leasing Authorities.--The head of any agency with independent 
     leasing authorities with leases for office space shall submit 
     to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 
     House of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and 
     Public Works of the Senate, and each congressional committee 
     of jurisdiction of the applicable independent leasing 
     authority an annual report for the duration of such agreement 
     containing data on--
       (1) monthly total occupancy of the office space;
       (2) the actual utilization of such office space;
       (3) monthly space utilization rates; and
       (4) any other office space utilization data considered 
     important for collection by Congress.
       (c) Exceptions to Reporting and Occupancy Agreement 
     Requirements.--This section shall not apply to properties 
     used by an element of the intelligence community.
       (d) Applicability.--The requirements of this section shall 
     apply to any occupancy or novation agreement entered into on 
     or after the date that is 6 months after the date of 
     enactment of this Act.
       (e) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Federal tenant.--The term ``Federal tenant''--
       (A) means an Federal agency that has an occupancy agreement 
     with the Administrator of General Services to occupy a 
     commercial lease for office space secured by the 
     Administrator on behalf of the Federal Government; and
       (B) does not include an element of the intelligence 
     community.
       (2) Intelligence community.--The term ``intelligence 
     community'' has the meaning given that term in section 3 of 
     the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the gentleman 
from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards) and a Member opposed each will 
control 5 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chair, I commend Mr. Perry for his work on this important bill. I 
had the opportunity to serve on the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, where this horrible expense issue was brought to our 
attention.
  I also thank the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Perez), my 
bipartisan co-lead, for her partnership on this amendment and the 
greater standalone bill.
  Mr. Chair, I am here today to urge support for my amendment to H.R. 
6276, the USE IT Act.

                              {time}  1445

  I introduced the Federal Use it or Lose it Leases Act, or the FULL 
Act, back in November to bring accountability to the practice of 
maintaining high telework levels while maintaining expensive office 
leases and to reduce wasteful government spending on unused office 
space.
  My bill was drafted in concurrence with Mr. Perry's USE IT Act to 
ensure that our language was synonymous and could work together to 
establish strong Federal building policies and procedures to reduce the 
Federal footprint. The FULL Act unanimously passed out of the 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by voice vote during the 
full committee markup on November 15.
  As you well know, a GAO report found that 17 of the 24 major agency 
headquarters in D.C. were less than 25 percent occupied during the 
first quarter of 2023. Even the few agencies above 25 percent reported 
right around or below 50 percent occupancy. Meanwhile, taxpayers 
continue to pay for 100 percent of the office space Federal employees 
are not using.
  The Federal real estate portfolio has become a wasteland that is 
seldom reviewed. Leased assets cost taxpayers more than $6 billion a 
year. Even during the peak of telework, between 2020 and 2022, Federal 
agencies managed to spend more than $1 billion in a single year on new 
furnishings.
  If you compare the USE IT Act and my amendment, you will see our 
language is very similar. Mr. Perry's USE IT Act establishes the 
criteria that I reference in my amendment to regulate general Federal 
building practices. My bill differentiates itself by serving as the 
reporting catalyst for Mr. Perry's bill.
  The USE IT Act creates mandatory reporting requirements for agencies, 
and the FULL Act will require that GSA include language in all leases 
with Federal tenants directing the submission of an annual report on 
monthly occupancy and inclusion of written procedures governing the 
return of that unused office space to GSA. Together, the language 
ensures Congress has up-to-date information to make the best space 
utilization decisions for our taxpayers.
  The FULL Act also requires independent leasing authorities to submit 
a report to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Senate 
Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the congressional 
committee of jurisdiction on occupancy and space utilization.
  Ultimately, my amendment seeks to equip Congress and GSA with the 
data needed to provide greater oversight of Federal leases, to reduce 
the Federal real estate footprint, and to ensure that we are maximizing 
every Federal dollar spent on office space for agency use. Mr. Perry's 
bill sets the best practices for managing Federal real estate, and my 
amendment provides the mechanism for implementing those best practices.
  Ultimately, Mr. Chair, I urge support of my amendment, which will 
help to strengthen congressional oversight of government spending on 
office leases and prevent taxpayers from continuing to foot the bill 
for underutilized Federal office space.
  Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, 
although I am not opposed to the amendment.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, this amendment requires GSA to 
include in its occupancy agreements with Federal tenants a requirement 
that tenant agencies submit a report on utilization and usage to GSA. 
It also requires the return of office space by the tenant to GSA if 
occupancy falls below 60 percent for 6 months within any 1-year period.
  GSA previously allowed tenant agencies to return unneeded space back 
to GSA with 120-days' notice, but in May of 2023, GSA changed its 
policy and now all new occupancy agreements between GSA and Federal 
tenants must include a noncancellation clause to prevent agencies from 
returning space to GSA.
  Requiring agencies to return space if occupancy falls below 60 
percent for 6 months does not account for the fact that space costs 
incurred by the government still remain under the lease contract.
  While I have concerns about the mechanics and the cost of an agency 
returning space to GSA with this amendment, I will not oppose this 
amendment.

[[Page H1123]]

  Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Chair, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from Washington State (Ms. Perez).
  Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment with 
Representative Edwards for the USE IT Act which would incorporate our 
bipartisan bill, the FULL Act, to inform how Federal office leases are 
renewed and ensure unused government office space can be effectively 
repurposed.
  Flexibility in where Federal employees work has allowed public 
servants to spend more time coaching their kids' Little League team and 
less time commuting in traffic. In addition, telework has been 
beneficial to rural communities like mine.
  However, Federal policy needs to keep up so taxpayers aren't footing 
the bill for empty office space. We want to see our tax dollars going 
to fixing aging infrastructure in our public schools, not to landlords.
  With more than half of all Federal leases set to expire in the next 5 
years, our FULL Act would help the government better utilize space and 
cut down on expensive building leases and furniture.
  Our amendment will require important reporting on space utilization, 
occupancy, and availability, as well as ensuring agencies have written 
procedures in place to return unused office space to the GSA.
  Instead of wasting tax dollars on empty buildings and their 
landlords, we should be using them to replace our crumbling 
infrastructure.
  I am grateful for Congressman Edwards' partnership on this 
bipartisan, commonsense effort to reduce government waste and be 
responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. I urge my colleagues to 
support this amendment.
  The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentleman from North Carolina has 
expired.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, again, I do not oppose the 
amendment on this side of the aisle, and I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards).
  The amendment was agreed to.


                  Amendment No. 2 Offered by Mr. Perry

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 2 
printed in House Report 118-419.
  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:
       Page 4, strike lines 4 through 7 and insert the following:
       (7) Occupancy.--The term ``occupancy'' means the total 
     number of employees actually performing duties in person in a 
     public building or federally-leased space 40 hours per week 
     regardless of work arrangements.
       Page 4, after line 21, insert the following:
       (c) Protection of Personally Identifiable Information.--In 
     carrying out subsection (b), the Administrator shall ensure 
     any sensors used for the purposes of determining occupancy 
     are designed to protect of all personally identifiable 
     information.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chair, I am pleased to offer this bipartisan amendment to H.R. 
6276 with the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Auchincloss). This 
amendment makes two clarifying changes to the bill, ensuring that the 
legislation collects occupancy data in a way that better encompasses 
all Federal workers, wherever they are working, and protects the 
privacy of those workers.
  This amendment updates the definition of ``occupancy'' in the bill 
from the total number of employees performing duties in person over a 
5-day workweek to the number of employees doing so over a 40-hour 
workweek, ensuring that occupancy calculations can more comprehensively 
account for all employees.
  Now, the issue came up during discussion in regular order in the 
committee. Mr. Auchincloss had some issues with the bill, and rightly 
so. He came to me, and he said: Can we work on this? I said: Sure, I 
think we can because we are all interested in making things better, no 
matter where the ideas come from.
  Additionally, this amendment requires that the sensors used to 
collect occupancy data within this bill are designed to protect the 
personally identifiable information of the building's occupants, 
ensuring that these new requirements will not impinge and impose on 
Federal employee privacy.
  It has been great to work with the gentleman. We all want to improve 
things. We all think we have the best ideas, but sometimes we don't, 
and when somebody else does, you have just got to say, well, look, can 
we get it done together? If that brings us together, that is a win for 
the American people and, quite honestly, a win for this Congress if we 
can work on the amendment, get it passed and also the bill.
  Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, 
although I am not opposed to the amendment.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Auchincloss).
  Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment 
with Mr. Perry to his bill, the Utilizing Space Efficiently and 
Improving Technologies, or USE IT, Act.
  I support the intent and much of the substance of the underlying 
bill. I believe it is wise to require the Federal Government to be a 
good steward of its leases and of taxpayer dollars. It is important to 
reevaluate employee occupancy of Federal buildings in this new post-
COVID employment environment, just as the private sector is doing, and 
to rightsize our Federal office space accordingly.
  This amendment makes two important revisions to the bill. I 
appreciate Mr. Perry's collaboration in adopting it.
  First, it defines occupancy in terms of hours per week instead of 
days per week to better reflect Federal employees who have compressed 
work schedules. Second, it codifies that any technology used to collect 
occupancy data should protect personally identifiable information, 
which GSA is already doing.
  This amendment does not solve every outstanding issue with this bill. 
I agree with the ranking member that Ms. Titus' amendment should also 
have been made in order, but I do believe it materially improves it, 
and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chair, again, trying to alleviate the fact that a vast 
majority of the buildings are vastly understaffed, yet 100 percent of 
them are paid for, that is what we are trying to do here. It has been a 
20-year-long problem--20 years long. The Obama administration 
recognized it and tried to do something about it. Of course, GSA wants 
to do something about it. Again, the tenants, the occupants of the 
buildings, the agencies have no incentive to reduce their space. They 
would be happy to have all the space and have nobody in it except when 
they feel like showing up as long as the taxpayer is willing to pay for 
an empty building, well heated, well cared for, well maintained, just 
in case they might use it.
  Now, we have told the Rules Committee that we want to see all the 
amendments that are worthy to be listened to be debated and come to the 
floor for a vote because we think that improving ideas, no matter where 
they come from, is the greatest thing for this institution and for this 
effort.
  I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment that I worked 
on with my good friend, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, my biggest concern with the 
underlying bill is that it defines occupancy as the total number of 
employees physically working from the offices at least 5 days a week. 
Many Federal employees do not actually sit at their desks at all 
because they are out in the field working.
  As the bill is currently written, these employees--as well as Federal 
employees who have approved alternative work schedules--would not be 
included

[[Page H1124]]

in occupancy counts. This amendment makes a slight improvement to that 
definition, as was explained by the Representative from Massachusetts.
  The effort to count occupants in buildings is worthwhile, but only if 
we ensure that all occupants, including those who have been sanctioned 
and approved with their alternative work schedules, are included.
  This amendment will improve the bill, and I thank the Representative 
from Pennsylvania and the Representative from Massachusetts for their 
efforts.
  Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
  The amendment was agreed to.


                 Amendment No. 3 Offered by Ms. Hageman

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 3 
printed in part A of House Report 118-419.
  Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 5, line 18, strike ``and''.
       Page 5, line 21, strike the period and insert ``; and''.
       Page 5, after line 21, insert the following:
       (5) whether occupancy and actual utilization rates are 
     affected by the remote work and telework policies and 
     practices of the respective agency.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the gentlewoman 
from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Wyoming.

                              {time}  1500

  Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in favor of my amendment No. 
3 to H.R. 6276, which expands on the bill's reporting requirements to 
have the Federal agencies also evaluate whether occupancy and 
utilization rates are affected by the agency's remote and telework 
policies.
  The underlying bill, as drafted, requires Federal agencies and the 
General Services Administration, or GSA, to measure and report on 
occupancy and utilization in public buildings and federally leased 
spaces.
  My amendment builds on this reporting requirement and forces the 
agencies to measure how telework and remote work impacts the 
utilization of its physical office space.
  Telework and remote work have long been available to the Federal 
workforce, but the wide scale and regular use of such policies 
drastically increased during COVID.
  Two priorities of this majority have been to return the Federal 
workforce to work and to understand how remote and telework impacted 
the efficiency of the Federal Government and the services it is 
required to provide to our constituents.
  The Committee on Oversight and Accountability under the leadership of 
Chairmen Comer and Sessions have done great work to accomplish this 
goal.
  Mr. Perry's bill and other bills reported by the Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee measuring the usage of Federal office space 
make further meaningful steps in achieving the goals of this majority.
  Yet, the agencies have been anything but fully transparent. My 
amendment seeks to build on this great work by requiring that the 
agencies measure the new age of remote and telework on the usage of 
physical government space.
  With telework and remote work so widely used in 2024, any study on 
the usage of office space would be incomplete without measuring it 
against the number of employees which only sometimes or never have to 
physically report to work.
  This would help Congress understand how much of the Federal office 
spaces are actually being used on a regular basis in the post-COVID 
world, which would also help us to determine if we need to divest of 
physical office space to save taxpayers' dollars and streamline the 
Federal Government.
  Mr. Chair, I urge all my colleagues to support my amendment, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition 
to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from Washington is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, section 4 of H.R. 6276 requires 
the heads of Federal agencies to submit to the Office of Management and 
Budget and the General Services Administration and Congress a report on 
the usage of real property.
  The amendment that the Representative from Wyoming offers expands the 
reporting requirement by including the telework and remote work 
practices of the agency and the impact those policies have on 
utilization rates and buildings occupied by the respective agency.
  It certainly would be helpful for Congress to have a clearer picture 
of these policies and practices across the government.
  Mr. Chair, I support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Chairman, I again urge my colleagues to support the 
amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman).
  The amendment was agreed to.


                 Amendment No. 4 Offered by Ms. Hageman

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 4 
printed in of House Report 118-419.
  Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 4, line 18, insert ``, Personal Identity Verification 
     badge swipe data isolating only the first credential use of 
     the day for each cardholder,'' after ``sensors''.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the gentlewoman 
from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Wyoming.
  Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in favor of amendment No. 4 to H.R. 
6276 which clarifies that the General Services Administration, or GSA, 
should use PIV badge swipe data isolating the first credentialed use of 
the day for each cardholder as a tool to measure utilization of Federal 
office space.
  The bill, as currently drafted, explicitly directs GSA to use sensors 
and other technologies in public buildings and federally leased space 
to measure occupancy and utilization.
  The GSA states that occupancy data has proven to be a vital tool for 
agencies to accurately evaluate space utilization and to manage 
property accordingly.
  As part of this effort, the GSA is piloting occupancy data collection 
technologies. Another method GSA uses is badge swipe data which relies 
on Personal Identity Verification or PIV card swipe data at building 
access points.
  PIV data is broken down into unique credentials and isolated to the 
first usage of the day. In short, it uses a Federal worker's PIV card 
to check attendance at the door.
  My amendment would clarify that badge swipe data is and should be a 
tool GSA uses as part of the measurement of office utilization space.
  While occupancy sensors measure the utilization of specific rooms, 
according to the GSA, badge swipe data can provide a historic daily 
count of the number of unique credential individuals in a space or 
building, daily building density based on square foot per person, and 
annual rent per person occupying the space.
  This is absolutely the type of data we need to achieve the outcomes 
of the underlying bill.
  The collection of the daily attendance to each Federal office 
building, which is then reported to Congress, will also help further 
our majority's goal to measure the impact of agencies' telework and 
remote work policies.
  Again, my amendment is simply to clarify that this important data 
collection technology that GSA is piloting is utilized to the extent it 
can be in this

[[Page H1125]]

mission to measure usage of government office space.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition 
to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from Washington is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, section 3 of H.R. 6276 requires 
the heads of Federal agencies to work with the Administrator of General 
Services to identify, deploy, and use sensors and other technologies to 
measure the occupancies of Federal buildings.
  The amendment from the Representative from Wyoming will require that 
Personal Identity Verification badge swipe data should also be used but 
only capture the first credentialed use of the day for each cardholder.
  Ensuring that each person is counted one time--not every time they 
may leave and return--would provide accurate representation of building 
utilization and meet the goals of Congress to better assess the use of 
Federal office space.
  Mr. Chair, I support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Chairman, just one final statement. This amendment 
is to clarify that Congress intends for GSA to use all occupancy data 
collection techniques.
  Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I have no further speakers, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman).
  The amendment was agreed to.


                Amendment No. 5 Offered by Mr. McCormick

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 5 
printed in House Report 118-419.
  Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Strike section 4 and insert the following:

     SEC. 4. REPORTING ON USAGE OF REAL PROPERTY.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the heads of 
     Federal agencies shall submit to the Director, the 
     Administrator, the Committee on Transportation and 
     Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, the Committee 
     on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and the 
     Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 
     and the Senate a report on--
       (1) the occupancy and the actual utilization rates of space 
     in public buildings and federally-leased space occupied by 
     the respective agency of the Federal agency head broken down 
     by building and lease;
       (2) the methodology used for determining occupancy, 
     including the period of time and other parameters used to 
     determine occupancy on a regular basis;
       (3) the utilization percentage of each public building and 
     federally-leased space by the respective agency of the 
     Federal agency head, comparing the capacity to the actual 
     utilization rate based on a utilization benchmark of 150 
     usable square feet per person; and
       (4) any costs associated with capacity that exceeds 
     occupancy with respect to the respective agency of the 
     Federal agency head.
       (b) Publishing Requirement.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
     heads of Federal agencies shall make each report required 
     under subsection (a) available on a publicly accessible 
     website of the General Services Administration.
       (2) Exception.--The publishing requirements of paragraph 
     (1) shall not apply if the head of the respective Federal 
     agency makes a determination that making the report required 
     under subsection (a) available on a publicly accessible 
     website would be detrimental to national security.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the gentleman 
from Georgia (Mr. McCormick) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, I rise to offer my amendment to H.R. 6276, 
the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act, or the 
USE IT Act of 2023.
  My amendment is simple. It would amend section 4 of the bill to make 
the reports required by section be made publicly available on a website 
operated by the General Services Administration, the GSA, with 
exceptions for national security-related reasons.
  The American people deserve transparency. Far too often, the people 
of this country, the ones who fund the government, the ones we 
represent, don't know where their money is going. Taxpayer dollars are 
frivolously being used to heat and cool empty and underutilized 
government buildings.
  The American people see tens of thousands of dollars go out of their 
paychecks every year to pay for what: A wide open southern border, 
rampant inflation, out-of-control national debt, and an inefficient 
bureaucracy.
  This is ridiculous. The people deserve to know their money is being 
used efficiently. Making these reports on office use publicly available 
will increase public oversight on the activities of the Federal 
agencies and, in turn, increase public trust and confidence in our 
government.
  Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition 
to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
  The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Washington is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, the amendment offered by the 
Representative from Georgia requires some significant reporting on 
occupancy, utilization rates, and costs by the heads of Federal 
agencies to the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services 
Administration, and Congress.
  Information gathering and transparency is vital to efficient and 
effective governing, so I will not oppose the amendment.
  I do want to point out, however, that agency heads are already 
required to report occupancy and utilization data, and that data can be 
found on GSA's annual performance overview reports on GSA's website 
that the public can access now.
  Mr. Chair, I will not oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close.
  Mr. Chair, my amendment is simple, easy, and commonsense. I ask for 
my colleagues to support this amendment and to support the underlying 
bill.
  Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I have no other speakers, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. McCormick).
  The amendment was agreed to.


                Amendment No. 6 Offered by Mr. McCormick

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 6 
printed in House Report 118-410.
  Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, I rise as the designee of Mr. Mills, and I 
have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 9, after line 5, insert the following:

     SEC. 7. GAO REPORT.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
     States shall submit to Congress a report on the cost to each 
     Federal agency of measuring the occupancy and actual 
     utilization rates of space in public buildings and federally-
     leased space to prepare the reports required under section 4.
       (b) Requirements.--The Comptroller General shall include in 
     the report required under subsection (a) the cost of 
     deploying sensors and technologies pursuant to section 3 but 
     shall exclude any such technologies that were in place before 
     the date of enactment of this Act.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the gentleman 
from Georgia (Mr. McCormick) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, I am here today to offer amendment No. 6 to 
H.R. 6276, USE IT Act, as the designee of the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Mills).

[[Page H1126]]

  I fully support the accountability advanced by the underlying bill. 
The continual bloating of the Federal Government's physical footprint 
costs American taxpayers obscene amounts of money each year.
  This straightforward amendment provides additional transparency to 
the bill to ensure that Congress and the American people have the most 
fulsome data about the costs associated with this bill's 
implementation.
  Specifically, this amendment requires the Government Accountability 
Office, the GAO, to report on the cost of establishing future 
methodologies and technologies to measure Federal building occupancy as 
required by the bill.
  The enactment excludes any preexisting systems in place before the 
date of the enactment of this act to prevent any duplicative 
accounting.
  As we strive to limit waste, fraud, and abuse in our government, this 
amendment ensures that we are doing so with transparency and 
accountability in Federal building management.
  This bill and the amendment to it are hardly riveting. However, good 
governance often requires a willingness to do the mundane 
administrative work to keep the ship upright and moving forward.
  I will take a second just to say that I wish Mr. Mills could have 
been here to offer this important amendment, but he is currently on his 
way back from Haiti, after assisting with the evacuation of American 
citizens as the country enters a state of complete anarchy. His 
commitment to America, domestic and broad, is commendable.
  Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition 
to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, section 4 of H.R. 6276 requires 
the heads of Federal agencies to submit to the Office of Management and 
Budget, the General Services Administration, and Congress a report on 
the usage of real property.
  The amendment offered by the Representative from Georgia for the 
Representative from Florida requires the Government Accountability 
Office to report to Congress on the costs to Federal agencies 
associated with complying with section 4 of the underlying bill.
  The GAO's report must include the cost of Federal agencies of 
surveying, monitoring, and deploying sensors and technologies to 
measure the occupancy and actual utilization rates of space in public 
buildings and space leased by the Federal Government.
  Mr. Chair, I support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, just like the last amendment, this 
amendment is about transparency and accountability. Once again, I ask 
for my colleagues' support on this amendment and on the underlying 
bill. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, we have no further speakers, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. McCormick).
  The amendment was agreed to.

                              {time}  1515


                  Amendment No. 7 Offered by Mr. Rose

  The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 7 
printed in House Report 118-419.
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
  The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Page 9, after line 5, insert the following:

     SEC. 7. INVESTIGATION OF UNDERUTILIZED SPACE.

       (a) Reporting Requirement.--Not later than 90 days after 
     the submission of each report under section 4, the head of 
     each Federal agency shall submit to the inspector general of 
     each respective agency a report detailing any public building 
     or federally-leased space with a capacity of 500 or more 
     employees under the jurisdiction of such agency that has a 
     utilization rate below 20 percent during the reporting period 
     that is not a vacant office building.
       (b) Inspector General Investigation.--Upon receipt of a 
     report under subsection (a), the inspector general of the 
     relevant Federal agency shall conduct an investigation to 
     determine whether there is any evidence of fraud, waste, 
     abuse, or mismanagement with respect to the use of the public 
     building or federally-leased space identified in the report.

  The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the gentleman 
from Tennessee (Mr. Rose) and a Member opposed each will control 5 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to H.R. 6276, the USE IT 
Act. The USE IT Act is a commonsense bill that requires a report on the 
occupancy and actual utilization rates of public buildings and 
federally leased spaces occupied by Federal agencies.
  The report must also list any costs to taxpayers associated with 
capacity that exceeds occupancy.
  The USE IT Act also requires the government to sell or dispose of 
excess capacity space or consolidate space in buildings with a 
utilization rate below 60 percent.
  Mr. Chair, Tennesseans are rightfully outraged that their taxpayer 
dollars are paying for mostly empty Federal buildings.
  Many of the folks I represent show up to work every day to put food 
on the table, care for their community, or teach and train the next 
generation of leaders. However, for some reason, those in Washington 
and around this country who collect a check from their taxpayer-funded 
job believe showing up for work is no longer necessary. They are 
mistaken.
  In a report on the USE IT Act issued by the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, the committee noted that according 
to a recent Government Accountability Office, or GAO, report, 17 of the 
24 agency headquarters in GAO's review were at 25 percent or less 
utilization.
  The GAO report also noted that some agency headquarters had as low as 
9 percent space utilization--9 percent.
  Mr. Chair, think of it this way: A Federal building with an occupancy 
of 1,000 may only have 90 people working in it on any given workday. 
That is just ridiculous, frankly.
  That is why I have offered my amendment, which would build upon the 
underlying bill by specifically requiring that Federal agencies report 
to inspectors general any large public building or federally leased 
spaces with a capacity of 500 employees or more and a utilization rate 
below 20 percent during the reporting period in the underlying bill.
  My amendment excludes vacant office buildings.
  Any large building or federally leased space identified would be 
forwarded to the relevant inspector general to conduct an investigation 
to determine whether there is any evidence of fraud, waste, abuse, or 
mismanagement.
  It is simple, Mr. Chair. If a building meant for more than 500 people 
is being utilized less than 20 percent, the inspector general must 
investigate whether there is fraud, waste, and mismanagement taking 
place.
  It is unfortunate that although many large Federal office buildings 
are operating at frighteningly low occupancy rates, Federal agencies 
are not taking steps to increase building utilization rates, actions to 
reduce their footprint, or any meaningful movements to reduce the 
operating costs of these empty office spaces despite repeated warnings 
from Congress to do so.
  It is imperative that inspectors general investigate whether waste, 
fraud, and mismanagement is taking place in these buildings that aren't 
being utilized to ensure that we are spending taxpayer dollars wisely.
  Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in 
opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
  The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, the amendment offered by the 
Representative from Tennessee requires the heads of Federal agencies to

[[Page H1127]]

submit a report to the inspector general of each respective agency on 
buildings under the agency's jurisdiction that has capacity for 500 or 
more employees that has a 20 percent utilization rate or less.
  Upon receipt of the report, the relevant inspector general is to 
investigate evidence of fraud, abuse, or mismanagement.
  Now, I will say this, I don't know why this amendment is necessary. I 
understand the Federal real estate has been on the General Accounting 
Office's High-Risk list for years, but nowhere in GAO's reporting were 
there claims of fraud, abuse, or mismanagement. Even though this is 
only a reporting requirement, requiring the inspector general of every 
Federal agency to investigate could be a waste of time and resources.
  This amendment seems to be a solution chasing a problem, but I will 
not oppose it.
  Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Chair, I have no further speakers, and I yield myself 
the balance of my time to close.
  Mr. Chair, thankfully, the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are 
passed us. However, most Federal agencies have not adjusted to this 
post-pandemic period, which is reflected in the deserted Federal office 
buildings throughout our country.
  I hope all Members will support this effort to bring greater 
transparency and accountability to large Federal buildings and 
federally leased spaces with low utilization rates by supporting my 
amendment and the underlying bill.
  In closing, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on my amendment, 
``yes'' on the underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I will close on this amendment 
by briefly speaking to the broader bill. The goal that we share in 
Congress is to ensure that Congress, the General Services 
Administration, the agencies all adjust to the post-COVID life that we 
have in Federal real estate, that we are rightsizing Federal real 
estate, and that we get rid of the office space we don't need and use 
the office space that we do need.
  This amendment is an attempt to do that. I certainly will not oppose 
it, but I do ask folks to consider it.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).
  The amendment was agreed to.
  The Acting CHAIR. There being no further amendments, under the rule, 
the Committee rises.
  Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Ms. De 
La Cruz) having assumed the chair, Mr. Moylan, Acting Chair of the 
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that 
that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 6276) to 
direct the Administrator of General Services and the Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget to identify the utilization rate of 
certain public buildings and federally-leased space, and for other 
purposes, and, pursuant to House Resolution 1071, he reported the bill, 
as amended by that resolution, back to the House with sundry further 
amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole.
  Under the rule, the previous question is ordered.
  Is a separate vote demanded on any further amendment reported from 
the Committee of the Whole? If not, the Chair will put them en gros.
  The amendments were agreed to.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third 
reading of the bill.
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was 
read the third time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 1(c) of rule XIX, further 
consideration of H.R. 6276 is postponed.

                          ____________________