SPACE Act of 2025

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today in support of my bill, H.R. 3424, the Shared Property Agency Collaboration and Engagement Act, or SPACE Act.

I am grateful to Congressman Chris Pappas for co-leading this bipartisan effort to bring greater efficiency and accountability to Federal Government real estate decisions.

Mr. Speaker, the GSA currently manages more than 8,300 owned and leased assets, totaling over 363 million square feet. Yet, many of these facilities are underused, duplicative, or poorly maintained.

Agencies often operate in silos. One agency leases new office space while another has empty square footage in the same city. There is no coordinated system to ensure that agencies share space or consolidate operations when possible. That lack of communication leads to waste of taxpayer dollars.

That is why the SPACE Act directs the Administrator of the GSA to identify barriers to Federal agencies sharing space in federally owned or leased buildings and to develop solutions to overcome those barriers. This includes examining logistical, legal, regulatory, or cultural hurdles that prevent our agencies from entering into shared- use agreements, even when that would save money and improve efficiency.

Once the Administrator completes this review, the GSA will report its findings and recommendations to the relevant committees of jurisdiction in both the House and the Senate.

This is a fiscally responsible, good government reform. It doesn't grow government; it makes existing government work smarter. We shouldn't be asking taxpayers to fund more buildings when the Federal Government already has plenty of space that is being mismanaged or ignored.

The SPACE Act promotes better use of what we already own by reducing waste and protecting taxpayer dollars. This is not a new idea. The GAO, the Public Buildings Reform Board, and numerous oversight bodies have repeatedly recommended this kind of interagency coordination in order to reduce costs and improve property management. The SPACE Act puts those recommendations into action and establishes a clear process to identifying opportunities and delivering results.

Again, I thank Congressman Pappas for working with me on this legislation. This is the kind of commonsense, bipartisan approach that shows that we can work together to fix real problems without adding bureaucracy or spending more money.

The SPACE Act is about accountability and stewardship. It says to Federal agencies: Before you ask for more, use what you already have and work with your neighbors to do it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 3424 and to help us to move this important reform forward today.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3424) to require the Administrator of the General Services Administration to collaborate with Federal tenants with respect to shared-space arrangements, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on H.R. 3424.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3424, the Shared Property Agency Collaboration and Engagement Act of 2025, or SPACE Act, directs the Administrator of the Government Services Administration, the GSA, to work with Federal tenants to develop a criteria that facilitates the expanded use of space sharing or collocating.

This legislation also directs the GSA Administrator to establish measurable objectives to quantify the success of the shared-space framework.

The SPACE Act achieves this by building upon the important public building reforms that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee made last Congress in the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Onder) for his leadership on this bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Onder).

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

Mr. Speaker, in closing, this legislation will help improve the Federal Government's use of shared space and save taxpayer dollars. By building on the success of the last Congress, we can continue to implement policies that ensure that we are good stewards of our taxpayer resources and hold agencies accountable for the effective and efficient use of our Federal real estate portfolio.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for H.R. 3424, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 3424, the Shared Property Agency Collaboration and Engagement Act of 2025, the SPACE Act.

This bill requires the Administrator of the GSA to develop new criteria to help expand the use of office space sharing for Federal agencies. By sharing amenities, space, and services, Federal agencies can use shared-space arrangements to make the most effective use of government-owned real estate. This bill is about efficiency.

A pilot program conducted by GSA allowed six offices across the country to provide ready-to-use spaces conducive to cross-government collaboration while saving taxpayer dollars by reducing operational costs for Federal agencies.

This legislation will allow GSA to expand on these efforts by establishing standards for shared office spaces and measuring the success of this initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill to ensure that we are good stewards of taxpayer funding when it comes to Federal real estate, and I encourage all Members to do the same.

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

Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 3424, the SPACE Act. I encourage my colleagues to do the same, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor and missed the roll call votes on the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 3424, SPACE Act of 2025; and on the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 3425, POST Act of 2025. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 240 and YEA on Roll Call No. 241.

Mr. Speaker, I missed all the votes in the vote series on September 8, 2025. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 241, final passage of H.R. 3425, the POST Act; and YEA on Roll Call No. 240, final passage of H.R. 3424, the SPACE Act.