House panel aims to cut costs as D.C. leases near expiration

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA), chairman of the House Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee, recently began hosting a roundtable with the panel's members to think of ways to save taxpayer money by reducing the cost of federal office leases in the Washington, D.C., area.

The General Services Administration (GSA), the federal government's landlord, leases 56 million rentable square feet in the National Capital Region alone. Over the next five years, 32 million square feet of that leased space will expire, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, which occupy 44 percent of the total footage of expiring leases. The subcommittee will work to help reduce the costs of existing leases and find ways to reduce the costs of leases that will be renewed. During the previous Congress, the committee authorized leases that will result in over $2 billion in savings to the taxpayers over the terms of the leases.