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Good morning folks - 

You sent me to Congress with a specific mission: cut wasteful spending and make Washington squeal. Each month, I identify a Washington expense, program or concept that has proven to be wasteful, and award it with my Squeal Award

This month, I have a proposal that does some cutting, and a lot of draining… 


Squeal Award: Bureaucratic Bubble Buildings

To drive from my office in Washington, D.C. to the U.S. Department of Agriculture could take a little over 5 minutes (without D.C. traffic). However, it might take a bit longer to drive to the nearest farm. Similarly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is just down the road, but the folks most directly impacted by their rules and regulations, such as the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) Rule, can be hundreds or thousands of miles away. 

Currently, the headquarters of nearly all executive branch agencies are clustered in and around Washington, D.C. Not only does this concentrate hundreds of thousands of jobs in the area, but it puts out-of-touch Washington bureaucrats in charge of making decisions and rules that directly affect the lives of folks across the country.

As we saw with the WOTUS Rule, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, these decisions are often nonsensical or, in this case, have harmful impacts on the people these agencies serve. If these government agencies were headquartered in a Midwestern state, like Iowaand staffed by folks whose friends, families, and neighbors really feel the impact of these decisions, a rule like WOTUS may never have been proposed.

This is why, last month, I introduced the Strategic Withdrawal of Agencies for Meaningful Placement Act, or SWAMP Act. The SWAMP Act seeks to get the federal government outside of the Washington beltway, so these federal agencies can see and hear first-hand the impact their policies have on the folks who know their areas needs the best.

To do this, my legislation establishes a competitive bidding process that allows states, cities, and towns across the country the opportunity to be an agency’s new home. This will also bring stable government jobs to new parts of the country, and help bring a more diverse set of voices and opinions to the policy making process. Not to mention, office space in Washington, D.C. rents for almost $60 per square foot, versus just $18 in Des Moines - saving taxpayer dollars!

Folks at the Sioux City Journal agree that if we want to get serious about draining the Washington swamp, we should consider the SWAMP Act to save money and ensure those making the important decisions are not insulated in a bureaucratic bubble. 

I hereby present the Washington swamp with this month's Squeal Award, and look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the SWAMP Act.


Do you have an example of government waste or inefficiencies that I should take a look at? Send me an email by clicking here.

Thank you!