At a House DOGE Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) spoke about
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00:00Mr. Fallon for five minutes. Thank you, Madam Chair. You've got to love the hyperbolic accusations
00:04in class warfare all in one sentence. We have 1,500 federal buildings. We have 7,500
00:09leases of other locations, 511 million square feet of office space, and it really comes down
00:15to need and want. There might be some people that want all of that space, but do we really
00:20need it? And clearly, when you read government reports, even pre-COVID, we didn't need the
00:25space that we had. We had too much. Then COVID exacerbated and the surplus exploded. Now,
00:31in 2022, Joe Biden in the State of the Union address, and I quote, said, the vast majority
00:37of federal workers will once again work in person. Mr. Kendall, do you believe Mr. Biden
00:42achieved his goal? Mr. Fallon, I believe that he made a directive which was tempered by agents,
00:55agency input. There was a lot. Mr. Temple, I'm sorry, I have five minutes. So do you believe
01:00he achieved that goal, yes or no? We can talk about where. To some degree, he did. To some
01:05degree, okay. 2023 GOA report found that 17 of the 24 largest federal agencies used only 25%
01:12of their headquarters capacity. And of all 24, not one of them reached over 50%, and we're
01:18talking big ones, defense, state, commerce, justice, treasury, et al. This much space, when you're
01:25talking about operation and maintenance bills, are going to be in the billions. Leases, $7
01:29billion just on leases. And then there's a backlog deferred maintenance, which is now estimated,
01:35and these aren't our numbers. These aren't Republican numbers. These are numbers from
01:37government agencies. It's $370 billion. So 17 out of 24. 71% are under 25%, and all of them
01:46are under 49. We clearly have to take some of this off the book. So we can be accused of
01:50farthest intent. The point of the fact of the matter is, we are looking out for the American
01:54taxpayer. Now, you're talking about very expensive real estate in Washington, D.C., New York City,
02:01San Francisco. And to alleviate some of our friends' concerns on the other side of the aisle,
02:06there is something called strategic sequencing to prevent the flooding of the market. And I would
02:11trust somebody that has real estate experience. The Biden administration, when we're talking about
02:161,500 buildings, 7,500 leases, 511 million square feet of office space, what did they do? Did they
02:22take action? Fact of the matter is, they did not. And it is time, and it's high time, 20 years in the
02:27making, to take some action. The U.S. Center of Disease Control, as Madam Chair pointed out,
02:35spent 230 grand on solar picnic tables. Is that a good use of government funds, Mr. Kendall, do you think?
02:41I just wanted to respond to something you just said. When I did this portfolio restructuring
02:46strategy, it was 197 million. It's now 183, so... The witness is not recognized.
02:54Thank you. Reclaim my time. Mr. Kendall, you're a witness. You are here of your own volition. Could
03:01you answer my question? Do you think that 230 grand for solar picnic tables at the center of
03:06disease control is a good use of taxpayer money? I have no opinion. I don't know...
03:12Okay. How about State Department? High-end furniture, 120 grand of leather furniture in
03:16Islamabad, Pakistan. Do you think that's a good use of taxpayer money? I would like to examine...
03:21So no opinion again? How about the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation spent $14.4 million,
03:27about $14,400 per employee, on brand new furniture. Is that a good use of taxpayer money?
03:33Did it include IT? Does it include computers and so forth?
03:37Mr. Furniture. So again, yes or no? No? No.
03:40I don't have sufficient information to make an informed decision.
03:44Okay. Thank you. The Biden administration essentially did nothing. And what we've had
03:49with new leadership with DOGE is terminating 700 federal releases already, 10%. That is a chunk.
03:54That is a good start. Any building that has national security implications is going to be unaffected.
03:59And now they're moving on to sell, and we're going to do, again, with strategic sequencing as well.
04:05I think it should be noted that Democratic Witness works for a trade association that represents real estate owners
04:12who lease space to the federal government. Is that a fair assessment, Mr. Kendall?
04:17That is true. Okay. Thank you.
04:19Thank you. Then we've got something in the research that we were doing, the McKinney-Vento Act in 1987.
04:26I was shocked to find, Madam Chair, that homeless assistance providers have right of first refusal on any sale of any federal building.
04:33I think the American people should know that, and legislation should be drafted, and our office will be doing so,
04:38to repeal that, to give the federal government more flexibility to properly sell and unload these buildings,
04:44to save the taxpayers, not the super rich evil people, the taxpayers of this country, some money.
04:53Madam Chair, I yield back.