POLITICS NEWS – Trump directs federal agencies to leave Washington, D.C. beginning on April 14th

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

President Trump’s administration has begun directing numerous federal agencies to make new plans to move the offices out of the Washington, D.C. area. The deadline has been set for April 14th for agencies to submit proposals for, “any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C., and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country,”  as described in a memo from senior officials that was released on Wednesday. Additionally, Trump has signed an executive order that requires agencies to compile a list of real estate holdings and then identify any leases that were eligible for termination. 

During his first cabinet meeting of this term, Trump said, “We’re cutting down the size of government. We have to.” He went on to say, “We’re bloated. We’re sloppy. We have a lot of people that aren’t doing their job. The civilian workforce currently consists of around 2.5 million people, excluding military personnel. Out of these 2.4 million people, roughly 20% of them live in Washington, D.C or surrounding states like Maryland or Virginia. Lucy Dadayan, a principal research association with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said, “Federal workforce employment represents about 25% of the total employment of D.C.” This also represents 25% of the total goods and services produced by the city.