The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has passed HR-1734, the "Civilian Property Realignment Act" (CPRA), which would employ a BRAC-like process for excess federal properties.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., the chair of a subcommittee on the panel, would establish an independent commission to review federal properties and make recommendations for consolidations, co-locations, redevelopment, selling or other actions.
"By taking politics out of the process, we will be able to consolidate our federal footprint and increase transparency in the leasing process in order to hold government accountable and achieve real savings,” Denham said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the House Rules Committee scheduled and then canceled a vote on HR-2680, which would create a BRAC-like Federal Realignment and Closure Commission to assess the effectiveness and accountability of federal agency programs.
The commission would evaluate all agencies and programs to eliminate duplicative functions and wasteful or inefficient spending or mismanagement, and recommend the realignment or elimination of agencies or programs that have completed their intended purpose, have become irrelevant, or have failed to meet their objectives.
As in the DoD base realignment and closing process, the bill would require the President would approve or disapprove of the recommendations, and if approving them, act to carry them out unless Congress enacts a resolution disapproving such recommendations.
The committee could schedule another vote soon but the bill will have to clear another committee, Oversight and Government Reform, before going to a floor vote.
