By Tolu TalabiI
Capital News Service
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on March 4 published a list of 443 federal office properties that were tagged as “not core to government operations” and subject to sale, but by the following morning, the list had vanished.
The administration revised the list before its removal, reducing the number of targeted properties to 320. Among the initial list issued by the General Services Administration were 83 locations in Maryland; the revised list had 21 Maryland properties.
The U.S. Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland, the Social Security Administration buildings in Woodlawn, several buildings for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Woodlawn, several buildings for the Department of Energy in Germantown, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration buildings in Silver Spring were among the targeted facilities.
The GSA said in a statement that “the list will be republished in the near future after we reevaluate this initial input and determine how we can make it easier for stakeholders to understand the nuances of the assets listed.”
The now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t listings drew fire from lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
“While no one is opposed to bringing greater efficiency to our government, the Trump-Musk administration’s proposed indiscriminate sell-off of hundreds of facilities – walked back only hours later – is yet another example of chaos and confusion spread through their reckless assault on important public services and the federal workers who provide them,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said that “it should come as no shock that the GSA’s rollout of an arbitrary and unnecessary list of ‘non-core assets’ was as sloppy and unserious as the rest of the Trump administration’s actions.”
“The federal government doesn’t lease these facilities; it owns them,” he said. “The administration’s list included numerous essential buildings that agencies use every day to provide vital services to the American people.”
Rep. Sarah Elfreth, D-Md., said in a statement that “while I believe there is ample room to discuss an effective and efficient way to structure government and government buildings to best serve the American people, the Trump administration has shown no interest in doing that.”
“They are once again taking a sledgehammer – not a scalpel – to the services that millions of Americans rely on,” Elfreth said. “GSA pulling down the list of buildings they plan to dispose of this morning further demonstrates their lack of planning or forethought.”
GSA’s Public Buildings Service, in a statement on March 4, said the federal office properties would be sold because they were “empty and underutilized” and “functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by our federal workforce” as a result of underfunding. Properties that PBS identified as necessary and critical for the government’s operation were courthouses, ports of entry and facilities for national defense and law enforcement.
Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s economic development, public buildings and emergency management subcommittee, noted at a March 5 hearing that a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the majority of federal agencies used 25 percent or less of their headquarters building spaces. Some agencies reported a utilization rate close to 9 percent.
Ezell said that the federal government spends $2 billion a year to maintain and operate office buildings regardless of whether the buildings are unoccupied.
Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said that there is a more efficient way to go about disposing of federal office properties, but the Trump administration isn’t following proper procedures.
“There has been mass confusion,” Stanton said. “Landlords are getting termination letters that their tenants know nothing about. Parties in the middle of lease negotiations don’t know what to do.”
He added: “These space disposals are happening at the same time President Trump has mandated the return to work for all federal employees. This appears to be a policy at war with itself.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are among agencies that said they knew nothing of the proposed sales, as CMS “did not submit or approve any of our current office locations being on this list,” according to an X post.