Ryan Introduces Bill to Relocate Federal Agencies

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan yesterday introduced legislation to examine decentralizing the federal government and look at potentially siting agencies in economically distressed areas.

Ryan’s legislation, the Federal Government Decentralization Act, would establish a commission under the General Services Administration that would study the relocation of select executive agencies or divisions outside the Washington metropolitan area. The commission would identify potential new locations in economically distressed areas.

“The nation’s Founding Fathers could not have imagined the current federal government system, with more than 300,000 federal workers in the Washington, D.C. metro area in 190 federally owned and 500 leased buildings,” Ryan, D-13 Ohio, said in a news release announcing the legislation.

Today’s technology, which permits “seamless communication and collaboration regardless of geographic location, already allows federal offices and agencies across the country to perform their work without being inside the D.C. Beltway,” he said.

“Our government belongs to all Americans, and communities across the United states should be able to benefit from the economic boost these employment centers could bring, especially in economically distressed places,” he said. “This is a common-sense way to help cities like Cleveland or Detroit share in the economic development that comes from playing host to part of the federal government.”

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