Trump Administration Seeks Plans On Moving Federal Agencies Out Of DC Region

VIRGINIA — Along with rounds of sweeping layoffs to reduce the size of the federal workforce, the Trump administration could also be seeking a shift of more federal services away from the DC region.

WTOP reported guidance from the Office of Personnel Management Wednesday to federal agencies on two phases of workforce reductions and reorganizations. The first phase, due by March 13, calls for plans on agency staff cuts and job reductions.

Phase two of the plan includes a call for federal agencies to submit a plan by April 14 on "proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country."

In addition, an executive order from President Donald Trump asks agencies to identify termination rights for leased property and submit a plan for vacating property the government no longer needs.

Virginia's two Democratic U.S. senators and six U.S. House representatives in a joint statement blasted the proposal to move workers out of offices in the capital region.

"We’ve already seen President Trump try to shrink the federal workforce by executing illegal mass firings, politicize the federal workforce by nominating political hacks who will side with Trump over our Constitution, and now, we’re seeing him try to relocate the federal workforce by ripping federal workers and their families from our communities," said Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, as well as Reps. Bobby Scott, Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer, Jennifer McClellan, Suhas Subramanyam and Eugene Vindman. "We won’t stand idly by while they are kicked around and forced to uproot their lives and their families — we will do everything we can to stop that from happening, just like every leader in Virginia should."

The Washington Business Journal identified 58 leases in the DC region with early termination options currently available or possible up to 2028.

The square footage of leases with early termination options, and the dates the properties could be vacated, in Northern Virginia includes:

• City of Alexandria: 26,877 square feet in 2027
• Arlington County: 82,289 square feet in 2025, 60,916 square feet in 2026, 25,588 square feet in 2027, 155,281 square feet in 2028
• Fairfax County: 319,818.93 square feet in 2025, 82,923 square feet in 2026, 41,129 square feet in 2027
• Loudoun County: 86,214 square feet in 2025, 6,465 square feet in 2026
• Prince William County: 16,947 square feet in 2025, 83,333 square feet in 2028

Along with federal workers making up a share of the region's workforce, removing office locations could have an impact on local revenues. Lucy Dadayan, a principal research associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, noted to WTOP that commercial real estate tax revenue decreases with office vacancies, creating the potential for local government budget gaps. Local governments had already grappled with office vacancies as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.