Norton Criticizes Committee Delay on GSA Leases and Presses for Leases to be Addressed Next Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a markup today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), ranking member of the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee, criticized Republicans for pulling pending lease prospectuses dating from 2011 from today's markup after sitting on the leases for over a year. She took note of subcommittee work to improve utilization rates, but said that with deadlines for the General Services Administration (GSA) and quicker review by the subcommittee, the leases could have been done much earlier. She cited Senate action last July and leases already completed by GSA and awaiting subcommittee approval as evidence of the urgency.

Norton said the delay has hurt taxpayers, agencies, which could have to bear higher costs, private building owners, and the economy alike. "Without action by the subcommittee, leases will be forced into holdover status, potentially forcing agencies to pay unnecessarily high rents. Moreover, GSA may be losing the opportunity to reduce the amount of space that agencies occupy, and thereby further increasing rental costs," Norton said in her opening statement at this morning's markup.

She said she was especially concerned about the effect of the delay on the economy, particularly the local and regional economy, and on building owners, who encounter mortgage refinancing difficulties when there is uncertainty about the renewal of GSA leases. In a recovering economy, GSA's large federal office space footprint nationwide, and especially in the national capital region, cannot be ignored, Norton said.

Norton's full statement follows.

Statement of

The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton

Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

March 1, 2012

Today's markup consists of naming federal buildings, the reauthorization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the reauthorization of the John F. Kennedy Center, all of which I am pleased to support. However, I must say how much I regret that the General Services Administration (GSA) leases were pulled from today's markup. The urgency of the leases could not be clearer. Delay on last year's leases caused the Senate, for the first time, last July to take the lead on approving routine leases, the one responsibility the subcommittee must meet annually. Still, the subcommittee has not yet considered the majority of the fiscal year 2011 leasing program. Yet these leases have the potential to assist the economic recovery, filling important real estate needs of the federal government, while protecting taxpayers.

Without quick action on the leases by the subcommittee and full committee, GSA will likely be forced into costly holdover status, with the government occupying space without valid leases at potentially significantly higher rental costs. Moreover, GSA may be forced to forgo opportunities to either increase its utilization rates or lower its overall costs. In fact, GSA has already competed several of the remaining leases, and is simply awaiting final action by our committee to enable it to sign the leases. Developing new space utilization rates took time, but this process could have proceeded more quickly and efficiently with deadlines for GSA and quick review by the subcommittee, in my view.

Working under the Administration's 2010 memorandum on space utilization and with the subcommittee, GSA has produced annual savings of $27 million and the reduction of the government's footprint by 630,000 square feet since the original submission of the outstanding leases. I ask that GSA work closely and quickly with building owners to achieve smooth implementation of these unprecedented utilization rates so as to avoid further complicating the process for federal tenants and for building owners, who face financial difficulties as a result of the delay and uncertainty with the 2011 leases.

I support action on the two namings, the FEMA reauthorization and the reauthorization of the Kennedy Center. I hope there will be a markup in the near future to address the backlog of GSA resolutions for fiscal years 2011 and 2012.