Dem accuses Trump admin of 'fire sale approach' as GOP aims to lower federal gov's real estate portfolio

A Democrat on the House Oversight Committee accused the Trump administration of offloading federal real estate in a haphazard "fire sale" as Republicans aim to cut wasteful government spending by selling unused or underutilized government buildings. 

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., the ranking Democrat on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, took issue with the Trump administration’s approach during a hearing on Tuesday on reducing the federal real estate portfolio.

"The Trump administration is currently taking a fire sale approach of looting the federal government and stripping it for parts to pay for tax cuts that we know will come up in their reconciliation deal," the lawmaker said.

DOGE is working with the federal government’s General Services Administration (GSA) to "rightsize" its portfolio and cut wasteful spending. GSA has produced the most savings across federal agencies, according to the official DOGE website.

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The GSA’s cost-cutting efforts have already resulted in nearly 700 lease terminations, eliminating 7.9 million square feet of federal office space and saving taxpayers approximately $400 million, according to subcommittee chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

John Hart, CEO of Open the Books, testified that $1 billion could be saved on furniture alone by not renewing leases on government buildings that are set to expire in 2027.

David Marroni, director of physical infrastructure at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, testified that no government agency "had a great track record in terms of the utilization" of their physical headquarters’ footprints.

Marroni said there could be substantial savings in reducing government workspaces.

"It's about $8 billion a year on owned and leased office space, so any reduction is going to generate a lot of money," he said.

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Democrats at the hearing lobbed criticism at President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading the DOGE effort, with Stansbury accusing DOGE of being "a front" to support billionaires "who are trying to privatize public services." 

"And just this week, we have seen, as Elon Musk is on his exit out of the federal government, he has secured billions of dollars in new contracts across the federal government. Conflict of interest? Yes, absolutely," Stansbury said.

The congresswoman claimed that Musk has secured contracts and promises for contracts at the Department of Defense and NASA, and is asking to install SpaceX’s Starlink Wi-Fi at federal agencies. Starlink, which is a subsidiary of Musk-owned SpaceX, was reportedly installed at the White House last month.

"And we understand that there is the potential to potentially deploy his AI technology across the federal agencies to replace the tens of thousands of federal employees that have recently been illegally fired," Stansbury claimed.

As of Tuesday, DOGE claims on its site that it has saved Americans $140 billion, or about $870 per taxpayer.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.