EXCLUSIVE: Joni Ernst Sounds Alarm About Uncle Sam Making Rent On Massive Gov’t Building Portfolio During Shutdown

Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst on Thursday expressed concerns in a letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) about the risk of defaulting on the thousands of leases the federal government holds on buildings amid the government shutdown.

Ernst wrote General Services Administration (GSA) acting Administrator Michael Rigas, asking him how many of the over 7,000 leases on buildings the federal government would default on due to the government shutdown. Ernst questioned how many agencies would be forced to vacate buildings if the federal government failed to make rent payments on them, as stated in the letter provided exclusively to the Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Joni Ernst Relays What Senate DOGE Caucus Has Been Up To In Post-Elon Musk Era)

“GSA manages over 7,400 federal leases for agencies across the government, which cost taxpayers around $3.6 billion in annual rent payments, which means Uncle Sam owes hundreds of millions of dollars a month in rent,” Ernst wrote, noting that 60 of the properties were in Iowa, including those used by the Treasury Department, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation. “Breaching lease agreements could further limit taxpayers’ access to government agencies if Washington becomes an unreliable tenant who fails to pay rent on time.”

Vacant spaces primed for a @SpiritHalloween?

It isn’t your local strip mall, it is the nearly 7,700 vacant buildings owned by the federal government and paid for by taxpayers.

Time to sell off this haunted real estate graveyard with my DISPOSAL Act! pic.twitter.com/8l7eFNclZz

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) October 31, 2025

Ernst went on to ask Rigas a number of questions about the effect of missing the rent payments, asking him to respond by Wednesday.

“What are the financial implications, including monetary and creditworthiness impacts, of GSA defaulting portfolio lease payments? How do these costs impact taxpayers?” Ernst wrote, adding, “How many leases will the GSA default on in November 2025 if government funding does not resume?”

“Will any federal agencies be forced to vacate leased buildings if lease payments are defaulted on? If so, please specify how many properties will be vacated,” Ernst also asked, later adding, “How might defaulting on lease payments impact GSA’s ability to secure favorable short and long-term in the future?”

The GSA confirmed to the DCNF that it was able to cobble together stopgap funding for the rent payments due in November. However, as of this writing, the GSA had not responded to the DCNF’s inquiry about whether the agency would be able to cobble together funding to make rent on government buildings if the shutdown lasts beyond November.

“We appreciate Senator Ernst’s concerns and support for our mission. Thankfully, GSA will not be missing lease payments in November,” GSA spokeswoman Marianne Copenhaver told the DCNF. “We look forward to Congress reaching an agreement to reopen the government so we can get back to executing President Trump’s agenda to rightsize the federal real estate portfolio.”

A source with knowledge about the situation told the DCNF that the threat of eventual default due to failure to pay rent would remain as long as the shutdown continued. The GSA did not immediately respond when the DCNF inquired how the agency obtained the funds for rent owed on the leases.

“The federal government’s bloated real estate portfolio is incredibly underutilized, expensive for taxpayers, and long-overdue for downsizing,” Ernst told the DCNF. “The Schumer Shutdown has led to incredible hardship across our nation, drained billions of tax dollars, and needs to end. I will continue to lead the charge to condense underutilized office space and sell off unneeded buildings to increase government efficiency and decrease the burden on taxpayers.”

Ernst has investigated issues surrounding the federal government’s real estate holdings. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) memo provided to the DCNF in December 2023 showed that only six out of 24 agencies reviewed by the GAO 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 DCNF that every government agency is using less than half of its office space.

🚨I am introducing the DISPOSAL Act to slash through pointless regulations and fast-track the sale of the government’s graveyard of lifeless real estate to generate hundreds of millions of dollars and save taxpayers billions. https://t.co/J8jtc1t5IT

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) October 31, 2025

Ernst introduced S. 3901, the Disposing of Inactive Structures and Properties by Offering for Sale And Lease (DISPOSAL) Act, Thursday, seeking to sell off six major federal-government-owned buildings in Washington, D.C., which would 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)

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.

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