Securities and Exchange Commission Real Estate Leasing Authority Revocation Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 388, the Securities and Exchange Commission Real Estate Leasing Authority Revocation Act.

This legislation, introduced by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia revokes the independent real estate leasing authority of the SEC and directs the Government Accountability Office to update its 2016 report on Federal entities with independent real estate leasing authority.

While some Federal agencies have independent real estate leasing authority and have used it responsibly, the SEC has a history of egregious real estate practices.

Congress granted the SEC independent leasing authority in 1990, which means the SEC does not need to use the General Services Administration for its real estate needs like most other government agencies do.

In 2010, anticipating the agency would expand in response to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the SEC leased 900,000 square feet of space in the Constitution Center building in Washington, D.C.

Then, a year later, in 2011, the SEC's Office of Inspector General issued a report which found that the SEC Office of Administrative Services conducted a flawed analysis to justify the need for this leased space and potentially committed Anti-Deficiency Act violations.

SEC's Office of Inspector General found that OAS grossly overestimated the amount of space needed at SEC headquarters for the SEC's projected expansion and prepared a faulty Justification and Approval to support eliminating competition.

Thankfully, Delegate Norton introduced identical legislation to repeal this authority during the 117th Congress, and that bill, H.R. 1468, passed both the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. Unfortunately, H.R. 1468 was not considered by the Senate. Today, we are trying one more time to approve this commonsense legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Norton).
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, it is time for Congress to return the SEC's leasing authority to the GSA, the Federal Government's civilian real estate arm. This legislation would do just that.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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