Golden introduces bipartisan legislation to relocate federal agencies to the communities they serve

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) today introduced the Strategic Withdrawal of Agencies for Meaningful Placement Act, or SWAMP Act, to require federal agencies to be relocated out of Washington, D.C., and sited closer to the communities they serve.  

Golden is co-leading the bipartisan bill, along with Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (IA-02). 

“No one knows better than fishermen what it takes to make a living on the water, or the threat that new regulations from far away can pose not only to their livelihoods but to their entire community or region,” Golden said. “That lived expertise about how we work and live can be found in every corner of America, but federal regulatory authority — and the good-paying jobs that come with it — reside largely in and around Washington, D.C. Redistributing federal agencies and jobs around the country would bring the government closer to the people, ensure regulators are embedded in the communities that thrive or struggle based on their rulings and bring good-paying jobs out of the beltway and into communities across the country.”

“Moving federal agencies out of Washington and closer to the people most impacted will ensure that federal bureaucrats who have never left DC aren’t issuing out of touch mandates that disproportionately harm working families, small businesses, and our farmers who feed and fuel the world,” Hinson said. “There's no valid reason why the Department of Agriculture should operate from D.C. when it could be situated in an agricultural state like Iowa. The American people simply want to drain the swamp, and this bipartisan bill will finally hold government accountable, save taxpayer dollars, and uphold the principles of public service.” 

Roughly half of good-paying federal agency jobs are held by employees in D.C., Maryland, or Virginia. While some federal employees liaise routinely with the White House, Congress and other executive agencies, a majority of those employees deal mainly with research and government contracts — none of which require a physical location in the D.C. metropolitan area. 

The bill, H.R. 514, prohibits new constructions, major renovations, leases, or renewal of leases of non-national security-related agencies’ headquarters located in the greater D.C. area. It also establishes competitive bidding processes to move such agency headquarters out of D.C. 

Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa has introduced companion legislation in the Senate. Full bill text can be found here.

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