To all Republicans and Libertarians out there...

...who want to say or think this President only wants to grow government and "tax and spend", blah, blah, blah.

From The Federal Times.com government website and news:

Obama to shed federal office space

By TIM KAUFFMAN | Last Updated: May 20, 2010

President Obama soon will order agencies to get rid of office buildings and other properties they no longer need, Federal Times has learned.

Federal agencies are holding on to more than 20,000 excess assets — from office buildings and labs to warehouses and runways — that could be sold to generate additional revenue. In addition, agencies have identified more than 65,000 properties that are partially or completely vacant but haven't been deemed excess, which would allow them to be sold. The properties are valued at more than $1.2 billion.

"Currently, federal agencies have little or no incentive to dispose of excess real property, and the time it takes to get an asset off the federal inventory is considerable," Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Jean Weinberg said in a statement to Federal Times.

Obama will issue a memorandum as early as next month requiring agencies to re-examine their real estate footprints and identify opportunities to dispose of properties that are unneeded or not being used to their full capacity, Weinberg said.

The new policy will require agencies to make a "significant reduction" by 2012 in how much they're paying to rent, maintain and otherwise occupy space, said Dennis Goldstein, director of asset management at the General Services Administration, which has been working closely with OMB to develop the initiative.

And agencies will have to make difficult decisions about how much space employees need to do their work, Goldstein said at last week's Federal Real Property Association's annual conference in Washington. For instance, agencies could require more employees to telework or could establish shift schedules that would allow two or more employees to share desks, cubicles or offices.

Oh, and he's set up a bipartisan commission, too, to see how we can possibly cut spending.

He's also trying to get a pared-down version of the "line item veto", too, so he can cut "earmarks" and some pork-barrel spending out of future budgets.

Just sayin'.

Link to original post:
http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20100520/AGENCY04/5200302/-1/RSS