Federal Real Property Disposal Enhancement Act of 2008

Madam Speaker, I stand in support of H.R. 7217, the Federal Real Property Disposal Enhancement Act. H.R. 7217 is the byproduct of bipartisan bicameral collaboration and I want to congratulate Representatives Moore and Duncan for their commitment to federal real property reform. I also want to acknowledge Senators Carper and Coburn for their dedication also. I must also recognize the hard work and efforts of Ranking Member Davis.

What we have before us is a sensible bill which will help move surplus real property out of the federal inventory. The bill allows the General Services Administration (GSA) to help pay the costs of other agencies' disposal activities. In particular, GSA will be able to help agencies pay costs with regard to properties that have yet to be declared excess. These costs include environmental cleanup, demolition, surveying, and life cycle costing.

In addition, this bill modifies existing law to make clear that when a property has been transferred to a nonprofit organization or a state or local government for a public purpose, and that public purpose is no longer being met, the property must revert to the Federal Government, which must dispose of it.

The bill also allows all agencies to retain the proceeds from the sale of federal surplus properties. These proceeds will be used for disposal activities and also may be used for maintenance and repairs.

Moreover, the bill includes a pilot program, under which agencies can, for certain properties scheduled for demolition, avoid the quarterly suitability canvas performed by Housing and Urban Development (HUD), allowing agencies to try and dispose of such properties on an accelerated timeframe.

Furthermore, this bill ensures strong data collection and reporting so the Federal Government can keep track of the real property in its inventory. Madam Speaker, passage of this bill, a work in progress for over six years, will make federal real property reform a reality. I urge passage.

Attached is an exchange of letters regarding jurisdiction.

House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure,

Washington, DC, September 29, 2008.

Hon. Henry A. Waxman,

Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House

of Representatives, 2157 Rayburn House Office Building,

Washington, DC

Dear Chairman Waxman: I write to you regarding H.R. 7217, a

bill to amend title 40, United States Code, to enhance

authorities with regard to real property that has yet to be

reported excess, and for other purposes. This bill is the

product of negotiations between the House and Senate on

provisions contained in H.R. 5787, the ``Federal Real

Property Disposal Enhancement Act of 2008'', and S. 1667, a

bill to establish a pilot program for the expedited disposal

of Federal real property.

H.R. 7217 contains provisions that fall within the

jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure. I recognize and appreciate your desire to

bring this legislation before the House in an expeditious

manner and, accordingly, I will not seek a sequential

referral of the bill. However, I agree to waive consideration

of this bill with the mutual understanding that my decision

to forego a sequential referral of the bill does not waive,

reduce, or otherwise affect the jurisdiction of the Committee

on Transportation and Infrastructure over this legislation.

Please place a copy of this letter and your response

acknowledging the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure's jurisdictional interest in the Congressional

Record during consideration of the measure on the House

Floor.

I look forward to working with you as we prepare to pass

this important legislation.

Sincerely,

James L. Oberstar, M.C.,

Chairman.

House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and

Government Reform,

Washington, DC, September 29, 2008.

Hon. James Oberstar,

Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,

House of Representatives, 2165 Rayburn House Office

Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Oberstar: I write to you regarding H.R. 7217,

a bill to amend title 40, United States Code, to enhance

authorities with regard to real property that has yet to be

reported excess, and for other purposes. This bill is the

product of negotiations between the House and Senate on

provisions contained in H.R. 5787, the ``Federal Real

Property Disposal Enhancement Act of 2008'', and S. 1677, a

bill to establish a pilot program for the expedited disposal

of Federal real property.

I agree that provisions in H.R. 7217 are of jurisdictional

interest to the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure. I appreciate your willingness to waive rights

to further consideration of H.R. 7217, and I acknowledge that

through this waiver, your Committee is not relinquishing its

jurisdiction over the relevant provisions of H.R. 7217.

This exchange of letters will be placed in the

Congressional Record as part of the consideration of H.R.

7217 in the House.

I thank you for working with me to pass this important

legislation.

Sincerely,

Henry A. Waxman,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5787, the Federal Real Property Disposal Enhancement Act, a bill that I introduced with Representative Jimmy Duncan of Tennessee to address the disincentives that are currently keeping some agencies from disposing of properties they no longer need.

Last June the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a report which found that there is currently a backlog of more than 21,000 excess and surplus Federal properties worth a total of $18 billion. Holding onto these properties has serious implications for the American taxpayer, as it costs Federal agencies millions of dollars per year to maintain and secure properties that are underutilized or simply unneeded.

Investigations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have also pointed out that the administrative requirements and costs of preparing a property for transfer or sale continue to hamper some agencies' efforts to address their backlog of unneeded properties. Because it can be difficult for agencies to secure the resources that they need to prepare a property for disposal, these costs serve as a disincentive because it makes more sense, in the short-term, for them to simply hold onto a property, particularly if they do not expect to receive the proceeds of a transfer or sale.

Fortunately, over the past several years the administration and Federal agencies have made progress toward strategically managing Federal real property by establishing asset management plans, standardizing data reporting, and adopting performance measures.

But there are also commonsense steps that we can take now to ensure that Federal agencies have the proper incentives to dispose of property they no longer need. H.R. 5787 is designed to do just this.

First, the legislation would move to help agencies deal with the administrative requirements and costs of preparing underutilized properties for transfer or sale by allowing the General Services Administration (GSA), in cooperation with agencies, to use its resources and expertise to cover these up-front costs and help agencies ensure that title records, property descriptions, and environmental clearances are in order so that properties can be classified as excess. GSA would then be reimbursed for the costs it incurs from the proceeds that agencies receive from the transfer or sale of such properties.

The legislation would also provide agencies with another incentive to reduce their inventory of unneeded properties by allowing them to keep all the proceeds received from the sale of surplus properties, which would then be available, subject to appropriations, to fund future asset management and disposal activities.

Many landholding agencies, including the three largest landholding agencies--the Department of Defense, GSA, and the Department of Veterans Affairs--already have the authority to retain 100 percent of proceeds, and it has been shown to be a tremendous incentive for some agencies to dispose of property they no longer need.

H.R. 5787 would simply extend this authority to landholding agencies that currently do not have it, and allow the proceeds agencies would receive to be used for future disposal and asset management efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to encourage my colleagues to support this common sense effort to help Federal agencies more efficiently manage their Federal real property assets. As we are all well aware, the Federal government faces many short and long-term fiscal challenges, which is why we must increase our efforts both to manage our existing assets more effectively and to significantly reduce the backlog of underutilized and unused Federal properties. We should no longer waste precious taxpayer funds on maintaining and holding properties that are not needed.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5787, the Federal Real Property Disposal Enhancement Act, which was introduced last month by Representatives Dennis Moore of Kansas and John Duncan of Tennessee.

This legislation would expand the number of agencies allowed to retain the proceeds from the sale of surplus Federal real property and would expand the authority of the General Services. It is very clear that this is a good bill, and I support it. It is also very clear that it is a step in the right direction but does not get us to where we really need to be. In fact, this is simply the tip of the iceberg.

The Federal Government is the largest landowner in the country. As such, it is essential that the government manage its properties as efficiently and effectively as possible. More importantly, property which is no longer of use to the Federal Government should be removed from the inventory. Unfortunately, over the years Federal property disposal processes have become increasingly cumbersome and unwieldy, and agencies often decide it's easier to sit on property than to try to get rid of it. In fact, when we as a Congress have done rounds of BRAC, we have often had to do supplemental appropriations of dollars in order to give away property that has become surplus. In fact, OMB estimates a backlog of more than 21,000 properties in need of maintenance and repair carrying a price tag of more than $18 billion.

Under Republican control, the Congress spent a considerable amount of time working, mostly on a bipartisan basis, to reform the Federal real property disposal system. The proposals we put forward for substantial changes provided real reform. Although H.R. 5787 does not contain the kind of substantive reform put forward in prior Congresses, it is nevertheless an improvement on the current system.

I therefore ask my colleagues to strongly support this legislation as a step in the right direction.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, today we have handled a great many important resolutions on the floor and some laws. We've done this on a bipartisan basis.

As we finish our suspensions for the House Oversight and Reform Committee, I would simply ask my colleagues, the Speaker, to take note that this past week, prices rose once again on gasoline in America. Up 17 cents in a blink of the eye, up a dollar since this Congress switched hands.

It is very clear that we need to begin operating on a bipartisan basis to bring down the price of gas and diesel fuel. We can only do that if we work on as much of a bipartisan basis as we work on these resolutions.

So I would ask all of my colleagues to note that the real problem America cares about today is not the 100 years of the Congressional Club. It is not, in fact, Arnold Palmer's accomplishments. It is not even Frank Sinatra's doing it his way. It is, in fact, America's inability to cope with rising gas prices, staggering unemployment, and the inability to live in one's own home. I ask that my colleagues take note of that and that we work on a bipartisan basis to bring a real resolution to these problems.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Madam Speaker, for several Congresses, proposals have been introduced to address real property management issues within the Federal Government, but have failed to become law. Today, however, I am pleased to be part of the bipartisan effort that we are discussing, the Federal Real Property Disposal Act, and am hopeful that this bill will be able to clean up the federal real property inventory.

I would like to thank Representative Moore, Chairman Waxman and Senators Carper and Coburn for their work on this important issue. With all the talk of spending, this bill has the opportunity to bring about great savings for the American taxpayer.

The Government Accountability Office has listed federal real property as one of its high risk issues since 2003 due to incomplete data and the numbers of excess properties and aging facilities.

In 2004, President Bush issued an Executive Order to improve the management of federal real property. Since then $7 billion worth of unneeded assets and properties have been removed from the government inventory.

The Federal Government has a goal of disposing of $9 billion in unneeded real property by the end of fiscal year 2009. Jim Nussle, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, sent me a letter last year endorsing a bill I introduced in the House and that Senators Tom Carper and Tom Coburn introduced in the Senate.

Director Nussle wrote: ``To reach this objective, I believe we must improve and streamline the current process that Federal agencies face in disposing of real property assets.''

Some people never want the government to sell any property, and government at all levels continues to acquire more and more every year. But if we keep shrinking the tax base, schools and other agencies will have a much harder time in the future getting increases in their funding.

In June of 2007, the Office of Management and Budget reported that the Federal Government owned over 21,000 excess properties and assets with a total replacement value of nearly $18 billion. That is more than the gross domestic product of over half the countries in the world.

The bill that we are taking up today builds on a proposal that overwhelmingly passed the House earlier this year.

Under the Federal Real Property Disposal Enhancement Act, an agency would be able to retain a portion of the proceeds from a sale of a property deemed excess. This will provide agencies an incentive to get rid of unneeded properties and allow them to use the proceeds to maintain current property or prepare excess property for disposal.

The reporting requirements in H.R. 7217 will provide what I believe will be very useful and valuable information, not only on the numbers and values of Federal properties, but on the costs of maintaining properties, like utilities, repairs, and janitorial services.

Agencies spend well over $100 million dollars a year on the maintenance and upkeep of properties that are not even being used. H.R. 7217 will help agencies reduce these unnecessary costs.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I believe that H.R. 7217 gives additional resources to those agencies that might not otherwise be able to prepare and dispose of properties the ability to reap the benefits and apply them toward mission-critical properties. It also saves hard-earned taxpayer dollars that could definitely be used more appropriately.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5787) to amend title 40, United States Code, to enhance authorities with regard to real property that has yet to be reported excess, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I stand in support of H.R. 5787, the Federal Real Property Disposal Enhancement Act, which is a sensible, bipartisan effort to address some of the problems with the current Federal property disposal process.

There are three key provisions in this bill. The first allows the General Services Administration to help pay the cost of other agencies' disposal activities. In particular, GSA will be able to help agencies pay costs with regard to properties that have yet to be declared excess. These costs include environmental cleanup, demolition, surveying, and life cycle costing.

Another key provision modifies existing law to make clear that when a property has been transferred to a nonprofit organization or a State or local government for a public purpose and that public purpose is no longer being met, the property must revert to the Federal Government, which must dispose of it.

The final major provision allows all agencies to retain the proceeds from the sale of Federal surplus properties. These proceeds will be used for disposal activities such as developing and implementing a plan to identify and declare properties excess, appraisals, utilization studies, and life cycle planning. The Office of Management and

Budget has stated that allowing agencies to retain the proceeds will provide agencies with the funds necessary to cover upfront costs associated with disposals.

This bill does not waive any existing law regarding the screening process and therefore does not affect the access of homeless providers or State and local communities to these properties.

I want to commend Representatives Moore and Duncan for introducing this bill. I also want to thank Chairman Waxman and Ranking Member Davis for their dedication to this issue for many years.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is wonderful to live in a democracy when we can recognize our athletes, when we can recognize our entertainers, we can recognize all of our people, along with doing the people's work.

The idea of a democracy says anyone at the lower end of the social economic scale as well as those at the top need recognition. We need to work together across aisles, not to be hampered by games that can be played, but sincerely coming together as a body representing the 280 million Americans and those who are not quite citizens and to do their work without phony procedures blocking our ability to make progress.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.