Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for promoting this legislation, for carrying it through the committee. Let me provide a little bit of background because I think there has been some confusion here. If we look at occupancy rates of Federal buildings from pre-pandemic to current, then 54 percent of the buildings are occupied as compared to pre-pandemic. Let me say this again. If you look at pre-pandemic occupancy and compare it to today, you have 54 percent occupancy as compared to what would have been 100 percent at the time, 100 percent of those slots filled. What this legislation does is, it says that if leases are occupied 60 percent or less, then the government needs to give up those leases. My friend from Washington has brought up the fact that you have folks who do telework and flexible schedules and things along those lines. There is a 40 percent cushion, number 1. Number 2, I think something that is incumbent upon folks in government that are using public money to pay for this--let me say it again: $2 billion a year to operate and maintain, $5 billion a year to pay for leases. It is incumbent upon these folks that are managing this to make sure that you are properly coordinating schedules. If people are teleworking or have flexible schedules, that is fine. Just manage them in a way that maximizes the use of the space. Look, this is ridiculous what is going on. It is $7 billion a year.…”