Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act, as you heard, FASTA, was a bipartisan and bicameral effort led by the T & I Committee in the 114th Congress, with the goal of improving the disposal process for unneeded Federal real property. FASTA established the Public Buildings Reform Board, PBRB, an independent Federal agency, to review and recommend unused properties for the government to sell. Once the properties were identified, the PBRB was to work with the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration to dispose of these properties via a new, temporary three-round process. Since its establishment, however, the PBRB has faced significant challenges. Although the legislation was passed in 2016, members were not appointed until May of 2019. Furthermore, the board was unable to conduct business for most of 2022 after two board members resigned, leaving the agency without a quorum until November 2022. As a result, they were unable to complete and submit to OMB their first round of recommendations. Overall, difficulties in doing research during the pandemic, lack of access to funding to help the agencies prepare for dispositions, delays in selling two particularly valuable properties in the high-value round, and disagreements with GSA and OMB on disposition strategies have all made the board's work challenging.…”