A new bill aims to sell many of the nearly 7,700 vacant buildings that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has introduced a new bill to eliminate regulatory hurdles and fast-track the sale of unneeded federal buildings.
Ernst is introducing the Disposing of Inactive Structures and Properties by Offering for Sale And Lease (DISPOSAL) Act to renew her efforts to sell six pieces of prime D.C. real estate and clear the way to sell 20 buildings every year to generate revenue for taxpayers and avoid billions of dollars in deferred maintenance.
Based on Spirit Halloween's business model, which uses temporary leases for vacant retail spaces to keep overhead costs low, the massive collection of vacant buildings can be bought by businesses instead of continuing to be a money pit for tax dollars.
“Despite President Trump calling federal employees back to work, vacant government buildings could easily be mistaken as future locations for Spirit Halloween stores,” said Ernst. “For too long, the entrenched bureaucracy has used red tape to prevent these ghost towns from being sold off. My DISPOSAL Act immediately lists six prime pieces of D.C. real estate on the auction block and slashes through pointless regulations to fast-track the sale of the government’s graveyard of lifeless real estate to generate hundreds of millions of dollars and save taxpayers billions.”
Maintaining these office spaces is quite costly to taxpayers. Every year, Washington pays out over $81 million to maintain underutilized offices and a General Services Administration report in May 2025 said that deferred maintenance exceeds $6 billion and will grow to $20 billion in five years.
Spirit Halloween’s successful “body-snatching” business model scares up a haunting idea for reviving the government’s graveyard of lifeless real estate.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) October 30, 2025
Let’s sell off these haunted houses! pic.twitter.com/A66RF9ZPYU
Some of the buildings have mold, water problems, and other problems, according to media reports.
Ernst previously introduced the FOR SALE Act to put six pieces of prime properties in the nation’s capital on the auction block to generate $400 million or more in revenue, while also canceling costs, including $2.9 billion for overdue maintenance.
However, that amount won't put a dent in the federal debt, which is over 38 trillion.
The bill might go nowhere because the federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1 over different funding priorities.
Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. Senate have voted 13 times not to reopen the government, which requires 60 votes.
About 41 million will miss food stamp benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program starting on Nov. 1 if the shutdown continues.
On Saturday, more than 250,000 Iowans that rely on SNAP will lose access because of the Schumer Shutdown.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) October 30, 2025
This isn't a game to hardworking folks and Democrats need to end their cruel political stunt now and reopen the government!