Rep. Mike Kelly Votes to Eliminate Waste in Government, Save Taxpayers Billions of Dollars

Rep. Mike Kelly Votes to Eliminate Waste in Government, Save Taxpayers Billions of Dollars

Photo: Rep. Kelly speaks from the House floor about the need to literally shrink the size of government by selling and consolidating federal properties through the Civilian Property Realignment Act.

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“It’s the hard-working, American taxpayer that foots the bill for all these properties that are being unused or underused. Wouldn’t it just make sense to take them from the liability side and put them on the asset side? It will no longer cost the taxpayer money to secure, insure, and maintain.... This is a win-win situation for the American taxpayer.”

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (PA-03) voted today in support of

 the Civilian Property Realignment Act (H.R. 1734), which will save billions of taxpayer dollars by selling or redeveloping high value federal properties, consolidating federal space, maximizing the utilization rates of space, and streamlining the disposal of unneeded assets. In 2009 alone, the federal government wasted more than $1.7 billion by operating underused buildings. If passed into law, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimates that H.R. 1734 could generate $15 billion in revenue from property sales, in addition to the billions more generated from future cost avoidance from simply owning less property.

H.R. 1734 would create a nine-member commission that would review federal properties and recommend specific actions to reduce the federal building inventory, excluding certain types of properties such as military bases and national parks. The commission will be required to recommend the sale of at least $500 million worth of high value assets in the first 180 days, and will establish timetables for federal agencies to implement additional recommendations regarding property sales, consolidations, redevelopments, or other property actions going forward.

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