Gluesenkamp Perez and Edwards’ Bipartisan FULL Act Signed Into Law to Cut Wasteful Spending on Government Office Space

This month, the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 was signed into law by the President, including Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) and Rep. Chuck Edwards’ (NC-11) bipartisan Federal Use it or Lose it Leases (FULL) Act. The bill will reduce wasteful government spending on office space that the federal government does not use. The Congresswoman voted with her bipartisan colleagues in the House to pass the legislation in December, and it passed the Senate later in the month.

The federal government’s office leases cost taxpayers more than $6 billion a year, but reports of unused space in federal buildings have increased with continued telework by government employees. A Government Accountability Office report found that 17 out of 24 major federal agency headquarter buildings were less than 25 percent occupied, with some less than 10 percent full. 

Even during a maximum telework period, federal agencies managed to spend more than $1 billion every year on new furnishings between 2020 and 2022. As of 2024, occupancy in federal Washington, D.C. offices is less than 54 percent of pre-pandemic levels. With more than half of all current federal leases set to expire in the next five years, the FULL Act will prevent the government from continuing to purchase expensive building leases and office furniture while large percentages of its workforce continue to telework. 

The FULL Act requires: 

• Federal tenants to submit an annual report on monthly total occupancy and space utilization to the General Services Administration (GSA).
• Federal tenants have written procedures in place for returning office space to the GSA if the space is used less than 60 percent of the time for six months or more within any one-year period.
• Independent leasing authorities to submit reports to congressional committees of jurisdiction on occupancy and space utilization.

“Hardworking taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill for empty office buildings and their landlords,” said Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez. “Our bipartisan FULL Act will reduce government waste by ensuring unused federal office space is effectively repurposed and informing whether leases get renewed. By being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, we can instead use them for commonsense projects that rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and strengthen economic growth.”

“During a time when our nation’s debt is spiraling out of control, we need to root out wasteful government spending throughout the federal government,” said Rep. Edwards. “The FULL Act will improve accountability in how federal funds are used by making sure that Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars aren’t being thrown away on unused office space.”

Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez’s floor speech in support of the legislation can be viewed here.

The FULL Act previously passed the House as part of the USE IT Act and FY25 NDAA.