Federal Real Property Disposal Enhancement Act of 2008

Floor Speech

FEDERAL REAL PROPERTY DISPOSAL ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - May 19, 2008)

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5787, the Federal Real Property Disposal Enhancement Act, which was introduced last month by Representatives Dennis Moore of Kansas and John Duncan of Tennessee.

This legislation would expand the number of agencies allowed to retain the proceeds from the sale of surplus Federal real property and would expand the authority of the General Services. It is very clear that this is a good bill, and I support it. It is also very clear that it is a step in the right direction but does not get us to where we really need to be. In fact, this is simply the tip of the iceberg.

The Federal Government is the largest landowner in the country. As such, it is essential that the government manage its properties as efficiently and effectively as possible. More importantly, property which is no longer of use to the Federal Government should be removed from the inventory. Unfortunately, over the years Federal property disposal processes have become increasingly cumbersome and unwieldy, and agencies often decide it's easier to sit on property than to try to get rid of it. In fact, when we as a Congress have done rounds of BRAC, we have often had to do supplemental appropriations of dollars in order to give away property that has become surplus. In fact, OMB estimates a backlog of more than 21,000 properties in need of maintenance and repair carrying a price tag of more than $18 billion.

Under Republican control, the Congress spent a considerable amount of time working, mostly on a bipartisan basis, to reform the Federal real property disposal system. The proposals we put forward for substantial changes provided real reform. Although H.R. 5787 does not contain the kind of substantive reform put forward in prior Congresses, it is nevertheless an improvement on the current system.

I therefore ask my colleagues to strongly support this legislation as a step in the right direction.

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, in closing, today we have handled a great many important resolutions on the floor and some laws. We've done this on a bipartisan basis.

As we finish our suspensions for the House Oversight and Reform Committee, I would simply ask my colleagues, the Speaker, to take note that this past week, prices rose once again on gasoline in America. Up 17 cents in a blink of the eye, up a dollar since this Congress switched hands.

It is very clear that we need to begin operating on a bipartisan basis to bring down the price of gas and diesel fuel. We can only do that if we work on as much of a bipartisan basis as we work on these resolutions.

So I would ask all of my colleagues to note that the real problem America cares about today is not the 100 years of the Congressional Club. It is not, in fact, Arnold Palmer's accomplishments. It is not even Frank Sinatra's doing it his way. It is, in fact, America's inability to cope with rising gas prices, staggering unemployment, and the inability to live in one's own home. I ask that my colleagues take note of that and that we work on a bipartisan basis to bring a real resolution to these problems.

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