[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 40 (Monday, March 3, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





  INTRODUCTION OF THE PROTECTING FEDERAL AGENCIES AND EMPLOYEES FROM 
                       POLITICAL INTERFERENCE ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 3, 2025

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Protecting Federal 
Agencies and Employees from Political Interference Act, which would 
prohibit the relocation outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) of 
the headquarters for any federal agency located in the NCR or any 
federal employee position with a duty station in the NCR. Last week, 
the Trump administration directed federal agencies to submit ``proposed 
relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, DC and the 
National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country.''
  The first Trump administration relocated a few agencies outside the 
NCR, which harmed the operations of the agencies and deprived the 
federal government of the expertise of experienced federal employees. 
For example, in 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture relocated the 
Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and 
Agriculture from the NCR to Kansas City. A 2022 Government 
Accountability Office report found that the relocation led to the 
agencies ``losing . . . institutional knowledge and critical 
expertise.'' As a former head of ERS said in 2021, ``The agencies have 
been decimated. Their ability to perform the functions they were 
created to perform--it doesn't exist anymore.''
  Employees in the headquarters for the agencies located in the NCR 
perform the indispensable work of keeping Congress informed of agency 
activities. Congress cannot write laws or conduct oversight without the 
critical information provided by agencies.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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