SBA staff at Washington headquarters would shrink under Ernst bill
Sen. Joni Ernst wants to make restructuring the Small Business Administration one of her first legislative acts as chair of the Senate caucus carrying out Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” agenda.
The Iowa Republican‘s bill that she will announce Thursday would require the SBA administrator to relocate at least 30 percent of workers at its headquarters outside the Washington metro area, according to a copy of legislation obtained by POLITICO.
SBA would then reduce the office space at its headquarters by at least 30 percent, under her legislation.
“The empty SBA headquarters shows its employees clearly don’t want to work in Washington, so we are going to make their wish come true,” Ernst said in a statement. “Not only will they be closer to the folks they serve but it will give more Americans the opportunity to join the agency and bring new ideas and innovation.”
The bill comes after Ernst used the first meeting of the Senate DOGE caucus last week to hand out a report on remote and tele-working within the federal government. As part of that plan she floated moving more of the federal workforce outside of Washington, and consolidating government office spaces to save money. Ernst has already met with the DOGE team and sent them a letter late last month proposing potential areas for cuts.
The legislation is the latest example of Republicans gearing up to position themselves as vocal allies of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an out-of-government effort spearheaded by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. In addition to the Senate caucus, the House has started a bipartisan DOGE caucus. House Republicans will also create a new Oversight subcommittee, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), that will coordinate with DOGE.
Musk and Ramaswamy also met with House and Senate Republicans last week, where lawmakers pitched them behind-closed-doors on their ideas for how to shrink the side of the federal government or overhaul spending.