{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221165509/http://denham.house.gov/press-release/denham-testifies-civilian-property-realignment-act-hearing-federal-property-disposal", "Denham Testifies on Civilian Property Realignment Act at Hearing on Federal Property Disposal", "2013-11-19", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Jeffrey Denham", "D000612", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) today testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee\u2019s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management regarding his Civilian Property Realignment Act (CPRA), legislation to improve the management of federal properties and save taxpayers billions of dollars.\n\u201cThe Civilian Property Realignment Act is designed to reshape the way this country manages the federal real estate footprint,\u201d said Rep. Denham. \u201cIt creates a civilian BRAC commission to identify and eliminate billions of dollars of waste generated through mismanagement, over building and an overreliance on leases, which add unnecessary costs. A successful implementation of CPRA would save us upwards of $15 billion.\u201d\nRep. Denham introduced CPRA as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management in the 112th Congress. CPRA passed the House last Congress with bipartisan support and was re-introduced this Congress on February 14, 2013. Last week, Sens. Warner (D-VA) and Blunt (R-MO) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.\nThe legislation encompasses five key principles for reforming the property management process, including: working to maximize return to the taxpayer, maximizing space utilization, reducing the reliance on costly leasing, creating value in underperforming assets and improving the overall management and controls related to federal properties.\nFull video of Rep. Denham\u2019s testimony at today\u2019s hearing can be found online here.\n\u00a0(Testimony as Prepared)\nChairman Barletta, Ranking Member Carson, thank you for allowing me to testify here today. First I\u2019d like to commend Chairman Barletta and his efforts as Chairman of this subcommittee, specifically the work in authoring the Public Buildings Savings and Reform Act of 2013 in a bipartisan manner. Your leadership on this issue is needed in a time of increasing national debt and government inefficiency.\nGiven our trillion dollar deficit and skyrocketing debt we must examine every area of government and look for ways to cut spending.\nI\u2019d also like to thank Chairman Shuster for working with me on this issue to ensure that it receives the proper oversight and attention. Since taking the helm of this Committee, Chairman Shuster has worked to create bipartisan solutions to our nation\u2019s problems, which is fitting for the topic we have here before us today.\nReducing the nation\u2019s debt is truly a bipartisan issue.\nI\u2019m here today to talk about a bill I authored and continue to work on with the assistance of you Chairman Barletta, and Chairman Shuster who has also been a strong voice in cutting government waste. H.R. 695, the Civilian Property Realignment Act would create a non-partisan professional commission to root out waste and inefficiencies in the way we manage our public buildings. The principles of this bill are the driving forces behind the effort to redevelop the Federal Triangle and serve as a model for how we manage property nationwide.\nI first proposed a civilian BRAC commission at this subcommittee\u2019s first hearing in February 2011 and the President proposed a commission in his 2012 budget.\nIn recent years, the GAO identified billions of dollars of waste through mismanagement, over building, and an over reliance on costly leased space to meet long term housing needs. On a bipartisan basis, this committee has struggled to house federal employees in the most cost-effective manner possible. Though I\u2019m proud to say that due to the actions of this subcommittee, GSA leasing prospectuses are becoming much more efficient and saving taxpayer dollars.\nI believe the potential to save billions of dollars is real.\nI am very pleased the president made federal real estate a national priority by including it in his state of the union address in 2011 and his official budget submission to Congress. Additionally both houses of Congress have included the idea in their annual budget documents.\nTo be successful, the commission will need to:\n1. Consolidate the footprint of federal real estate;\n2. House more federal employees in less overall space;\n3. Reduce our reliance on costly leased space;\n4. Sell or redevelop high value assets that are underutilized or too valuable for housing federal employees; and\n5. Dispose of surplus property more quickly.\nI believe a commission that uses these 5 principles to guide its decisions can save upwards of $15 billion. We must have a solution that incorporates all five principles.\nFor example, if all the commission achieves is a fire sale of worthless properties in one of the worst real estate markets in our lifetime, then we shouldn\u2019t expect to save a lot of money. Simply dumping vacant properties on to the market is not a long term solution.\nWhat CPRA is designed to do is reshape the way this country manages the federal real estate footprint.\nFortunately, the administration recognizes this same problem. At the end of the day, the total cost to house the federal government is directly proportional to how much real estate we hold.\u00a0 To save money we will have to consolidate that footprint.\nTo consolidate, we must house more federal employees in less space. Fortunately there are tremendous opportunities for savings in this area. For example, GSA is working to reconfigure its headquarters building to triple the number of employees working there from 2000 to 6000.\u00a0 Allowing GSA to vacate 2 buildings \u2013 one of which is leased \u2013 and house everyone in their renovated headquarters.\nThe private sector has been increasing its utilization rates for over a decade and a commission can achieve the same results in the federal government.\nReducing expensive leased space is another principle necessary for a successful commission. For example, the federal government spent well over a billion dollars to lease space for the Department of Transportation\u2019s headquarters.\u00a0 Yet the government could have purchased several buildings for this amount and housed thousands of employees for much less money.\nPerhaps one of the greatest areas for taxpayer savings will be in the redevelopment or sale of high value but underutilized properties.\u00a0 For instance, the Postal Service used a private developer to transform a rundown money pit \u2013 with a great location \u2013 into $150 million in revenue and a fully renovated building without any taxpayer money.\nWhile the government retained ownership of this property, in other cases selling may generate the greatest savings for the taxpayer. There are high value properties all across the country that are being used inefficiently and often times have large amounts of vacant space.\nMaximizing value is what CPRA seeks to achieve.\nWe do have to dispose of our surplus property more quickly. What we are talking about is not simply disposing of properties, but unlocking value and maximizing the return on government investment.\nI believe these guiding principles should help inform the development of any legislative solution.\nI thank the Committee and I look forward to working with you on these issues going forward.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221165509/http://denham.house.gov/press-release/denham-testifies-civilian-property-realignment-act-hearing-federal-property-disposal"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4061890542507172, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}