Despite a return to the workplace mandate that doubled building usage, the Agriculture Department is still only using a third of the space in its D.C. headquarters, according to a report from the agency’s inspector general.
After President Donald Trump ordered federal workers to return to the office by February 2025, the average daily utilization across 15 facilities operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) more than doubled from levels when the Biden administration allowed very liberal telework policies, the report released Monday said. Even with that increase, the average utilization was still just 36%, with the agency’s headquarters using only a third of its space. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: We Have No Idea How Much Pentagon Spent On Octopus ‘Hypnosis,’ Monkey Mind-Reading Studies)
“Across the selected facilities, average daily occupancy rose from 1,537 before the Return to the Office (RTO) on February 28, 2025, to 3,745 after the RTO. Additionally, USDA used 15 percent of the design capacity of the selected spaces pre-RTO and 36 percent post-RTO,” the report said. Across the federal government, hybrid and telework declined by over 50% in a span of months after Trump issued the order.
Banners showing images of US President Donald Trump and Abraham Lincoln hang on the side of a US Department of Agriculture building in Washington, DC, on May 16, 2025. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who previously raised concerns about the vacancy rate at federal office buildings, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the course of action should be obvious, given the findings.
“After Biden’s USDA denied allegations that the headquarters had become a ‘ghost town,’ Secretary [of Agriculture Brooke] Rollins and GSA Administrator [Edward] Forst took action to ensure civil servants are showing up, so taxpayers’ dollars and space are being used wisely,” Ernst told the DCNF.
“Even after President Trump and USDA doubled the number of employees in the office, nearly two thirds of the space is still unused!” Ernst continued. “It’s time to put this abandoned building on the chopping block to save millions for taxpayers and keep draining the swamp by moving federal workers closer to the people they serve.”
The senator noted that the Transportation Department admitted it used less than 15% of its office space in its Washington, D.C., headquarters complex in a December 2023 memo. The largely vacant office buildings stemming from authorization for telework that extended to as many as 90% of employees, depending on the agency, created an unsafe environment in at least one building, according to a November 2024 report by Ernst. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Post Office Admits It Has Little Clue How To Deal With Hundreds Of Vacant Buildings)
After I brought this to @USDA’s attention, I’m thrilled @SecRollins is taking action to reduce regulatory burdens for our pork processors.
I look forward to pushing this proposed update across the finish line, so Iowa pork producers can operate without the burden of excessive… https://t.co/sqBGYr5hNb
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) February 18, 2026
The United States Postal Service (USPS) admitted it has 285 buildings across the country that are partially or completely unused in a January letter to Ernst, adding that addressing the unused buildings would require action from Congress.
“The [Public Buildings Reform Board] adds, ‘In addition to high costs, other problems with low utilization rates include environmental and health impacts,” the report states. “The per person carbon emissions from heating and cooling nearly empty buildings, not to mention energy costs, are indefensible. Severely underutilized buildings can also pose health risks to their occupants as GSA recently discovered with Legionella outbreaks in many of its buildings when water stagnated in their plumbing systems from underutilization.’”
Ernst introduced S. 3901, the Disposing of Inactive Structures and Properties by Offering for Sale And Lease (DISPOSAL) Act, on Oct. 30, seeking to sell off six major federal-government-owned buildings in Washington, D.C., while also streamlining the process to sell other buildings.
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