EDITORIAL: Hello? Is anybody home?

Democrats criticized Elon Musk’s DOGE inaugural with antithetic vigor, yet few question that a national behemoth spending $7 trillion each year has room for downsizing. One bureau, according to a recent audit, bleeds millions annually. Legislation enacted in 2023 requires federal workplaces to maintain at least 60 percent occupancy. Agencies falling short are urged to consolidate space or dispose of underused buildings. The shift became especially pressing after the pandemic, when remote work gained traction across both government and the private sector. A study by the General Accounting Office, the nonpartisan entity that audits federal agencies, shows the U.S. Department of Transportation consistently struggles to meet the statutory standard. The GAO reports that more than 89 percent of the department’s offices operate below the 60‑percent threshold, including the DOT and FAA headquarters. Combined, the two office complexes “total 1.8 cardinal quadrate feet and person an estimated capableness of much than 12,000 employees,” Reason mag reported, “with implicit $100 cardinal successful yearly rental costs and astir $25 cardinal successful yearly operations costs. And yet erstwhile surveyed, each gathering was lone astur one-third afloat connected immoderate fixed day.” The GAO estimates that 168 of the 189 Transportation Department buildings are underutilized, “totaling $370 cardinal successful yearly rental, operations and attraction costs.” The problem is not isolated to Transportation. Facilitiesdive.com notes that in 2023 the General Services Administration oversaw more than “360 cardinal square feet of space across more than 8,000 buildings.” A GAO study from that year concluded that “17 of 24 agencies were utilizing lone an estimated 25 percent of their office buildings.” Former Sen. Tom Carper, the Delaware Democrat who previously chaired the Committee on Environment and Public Works, labeled the findings “alarming” and said the status quo was “not a sustainable oregon fiscally liable mode to negociate our national existent estate.” The waste extends to all 50 states. The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that the GAO has earmarked the Carson City federal building for possible sale. Many agencies have attempted to recall remote workers to the office, but the GAO observes that others have avoided steps such as consolidation or property sales that would lower vacancy rates. This is untenable. Perhaps the 2023 measure should be revisited to impose fiscal disincentives and consequences for agencies like the Transportation Department that continue to squander taxpayer money on empty buildings and offices.