Establishing An Expiration Date of Certain Committee Resolutions with Respect to Leases or Projects

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. TITUS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

As you heard, H.R. 6316 sets a 5-year expiration on resolutions approving GSA construction, alteration, repair, design, or acquisition projects. This means that if within 5 years of the passage of the resolution GSA has not executed the project, then the authorization is deemed expired.

This has been a concern to Members on both sides of the aisle for years. Similar provisions were included in former T&I Chairman Shuster's Public Buildings Reform and Savings Act of 2016 and former Chairman Barletta's REAL Reform Act of 2018. Unfortunately, neither of these bills was signed into law.

I hear from the many Federal agencies that I work with that it can be difficult to obtain information from GSA on the status of projects authorized by Congress, especially the construction of new courthouses. Once we authorize an activity, whether it is a leasing activity or construction of a new building, we currently have little access to how, when, and if the project has been executed.

This lack of information became apparent after GSA submitted a prospectus to build a new courthouse in Los Angeles, California, in 2000 as part of its FY 2001 capital investment program. Even though there were already two courthouses in Los Angeles, the Judicial Conference insisted that the L.A. courthouse complex was so short of space for judges that it was the number one space emergency in the country.

GSA submitted a prospectus to build a new courthouse totaling 712,102 gross square feet at a cost of $266 million, and the committee approved it. The design of the building, however, exceeded the congressionally authorized size by 13 courtrooms, 260,000 square feet, and $100 million, and the scope of the project changed so often that GSA eventually just canceled the project in 2006, despite saying it had been an emergency.

Then, in 2011, the courts and GSA announced that they would move forward with a downsized project that would not exceed the size and cost originally authorized by Congress more than 10 years earlier, without providing any notification to Congress.

Some members of the T&I Committee were so concerned about GSA's actions and lack of transparency on the Los Angeles courthouse project that they requested a GAO study of the courthouse construction program and held a series of hearings about GSA's construction of Federal courthouses.

Although Chairmen Shuster and Barletta are no longer with us here in Congress, their concerns, as well as the longtime concerns of my colleague, Congresswoman Norton, are still relevant, and this legislation is more necessary than ever.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation so we can ensure GSA is being a good steward of taxpayer dollars. I thank Chairman Perry for his help in getting this to the floor, and I urge Members to vote in favor of it.

Madam Speaker, I think this is a bill that is worth bragging about. It is not very sexy and probably won't get a lot of press, but it is one of those things that can really make a difference. It will encourage GSA to move forward with needed projects. It will shorten the amount of time it takes to get these projects on the ground. No doubt, it will also save taxpayer dollars.

Madam Speaker, I urge support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source