Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst demanded that the United States Postal Service (USPS) account for its building usage in a letter sent Friday.
The USPS has lost more than $18 billion over the last two fiscal years using generally accepted accounting procedures, according to a Nov. 14 release by the agency. In the letter, Ernst demanded that Postmaster General David Steiner answer questions about the facilities owned or leased by the USPS by Jan. 9, 2026, citing a Nov. 24 report by the agency’s inspector general. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: GOP Senator Sounds Alarm About Uncle Sam Making Rent On Massive Gov’t Building Portfolio During Shutdown)
“The IG found that the USPS has no reliable data on how it uses its buildings, no comprehensive strategy to reduce waste, and no recorded space assessments for over 21,500 of its buildings,” Ernst wrote.
A US Postal Service truck drives down Pennsylvania Avenue, with the US Capitol in the background in Washington, DC on April 23, 2020. – For many Americans, checking the mailbox is a daily ritual, a constant in a quickly changing world that can yield anything from wedding invitations to tax audits to new clothes. But as with many ordinary things as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, the US Postal Service — already compromised by a mountain of debt — has a most uncertain future. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“If you’re wondering how the U.S. Postal Service loses billions every year, look no further than the fact that they self-admittedly have no clue if they are using the buildings they pay for,” Ernst told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Unfortunately, this isn’t rare in Washington with your tax dollars paying for 7,700 completely vacant buildings! I will continue leading the charge to evaluate the federal government’s bloated real estate portfolio and downsize unneeded and costly office space.”
The USPS owns or leases over 34,000 buildings across the country, of which more than 95% have either not been reviewed at all or since 2020, according to the IG report.
“The Postal Service did not effectively manage excess and underutilized space as it does not have reliable data, does not know the amount of this space throughout its network, and does not have a comprehensive strategy for reducing this space. The Postal Service also did not comply with a key [Federal Property Management Reform Act (FPMRA)] reporting requirement on excess and underutilized space,” the report stated.
Ernst has investigated issues surrounding the federal government’s real estate holdings. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) memo provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation in December 2023 showed that only six out of 24 agencies had building utilization rates below the Transportation Department’s 14%, with the Social Security Administration having the lowest utilization rate at 7%.
Ernst’s office told the DCNF in December 2023 that every government agency is using less than half of its office space, with the State Department using 49% of its office space, which was the highest total.
Ernst introduced S. 3901, the Disposing of Inactive Structures and Properties by Offering for Sale And Lease (DISPOSAL) Act, seeking to sell off six major federal government-owned buildings in Washington, D.C. Ernst’s office told the DCNF the legisltionwould not only generate $400 million in revenue, but also save $2.9 billion in maintenance costs and streamline the process to sell other buildings. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Joni Ernst Asks Trump Admin To Yank $14 Billion From Boondoggle Projects)
A small United States Postal Service truck seen in Carson City, Nevada. The USPS often uses these smaller vehicles in suburban areas. Wikimedia Commons/Public/ Coolcaesar, CC BY-SA 3.0
Ernst issued a 60-page report on Dec. 5, 2024, that covered findings from her investigations into telework issues. Among the issues discussed in the report were the effects that largely vacant office buildings had on the environmental quality in the workplaces.
“Dangerous contaminants are collecting in stagnant water caused by reduced building occupancy. Several employees who work in federal buildings have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease and the potentially deadly bacteria is being found in underutilized government buildings across the country,” Ernst wrote in the December 2024 report. “Unsafe levels of lead and copper are being detected in the drinking water in childcare centers located in government buildings.”
The federal government also spent $3.3 billion on new furniture, despite the bulk of government employees working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the New York Post.
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