If you think getting an immigration bill, say, or healthcare reform through a bitterly divided Congress is hard, try an annual budget. In mid-September, Congress, having been unable to agree on that budget, passed what is…
In 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the fiscal watchdog within the federal government, issued an order requiring that federal agencies consolidate data centers in order to save money and reduce redundancies. Twenty-four agencies,…
Marble steps and columns crowned in the Corinthian order, yes. Great battleship-like masses of bare concrete, no. So demands an executive order issued from the White House on December 1, 2020, shorthanded as the “beautiful buildings act” and bearing the formal title “Executive Order on Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture.” The 2,700-word order opens on […]
As we’ve reported in numerous postings throughout the past year (click on “BRAC” in the “Categories” to the right), the Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) process has led to the closure of more than 350 military bases—and the shifting of many military operations from one base to another—since 1988. While the Department of Defense (DoD) […]
According to Moody’s Investors Service, last week’s election has not changed the “highly polarized and unpredictable” political landscape that still threatens the nation’s credit rating. In an analysis released today and outlined in a set of research notes yesterday, the ratings agency described how the presidential election and the prospect of a continuing standoff on […]
A century and a half ago, after the Civil War had ended, the federal government began an ambitious program of building national hospitals for wounded veterans—a few at first, and then, as those veterans became elderly,…
President Trump announcing his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement in the Rose Garden of the White House June 01, 2017. (Official Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) For those of you who have recently awakened from a coma, here is a news alert: President Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris climate […]
Which federal agency represents almost a quarter of all federal outlays and administers more grant dollars than all other federal agencies combined? The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to protect the health of all Americans and provide essential human services, especially for those who are least able to […]
One of the more intriguing charts in GSA’s recent Congressional Justification is its “Summary of Billed Inventory” or, to put it another way, its largest tenants. It’s not a universally understood fact that GSA is the landlord for most civilian federal agencies. When private-sector landlords lease space to the federal government they are really leasing […]
Leadership changes in the 113th Congress already are having an impact on federal real estate decisions. Maryland lawmakers—led by Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who recently took over as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee—announced last week…
As we reported last July, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) has big plans for the almost 110-acre, 15-block section of Southwest Washington, D.C., that is home to the Departments of Energy, Education, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as offices of the Federal Aviation Administration, GSA and U.S. Postal Services. At its most […]
Kevin Warsh, a Federal Reserve governor during the Great Recession, noted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this year, “If you’ve seen one financial crisis, you’ve seen one financial crisis.” That is to say, all…
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (photo: flyreagan.com) Last week, the Trump administration revealed its proposed 2019 budget and a companion proposal, the Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America. Together, these proposals describe the president’s much-anticipated infrastructure plan. The centerpiece of the plan is a $200 billion request for funds “to stimulate at least $1.5 trillion in […]
Colliers recently issued a profile of the Top 25 U.S. office markets, which observed that net absorption fell into negative territory for the first time in a decade and vacancy rates posted their sharpest increase over the same period. An example of the growing market weakness is the fact that the amount of sublease space […]
