You're watching...

$49M Courthouse Built by GSA Across the Street from Original

Details

  • Description

    Rep. Jeff Denham, (R-Calif.), on efforts to end the wasteful spending by the GSA.

  • Duration 4:06
  • Date

Clips

Also in this playlist...

Latest Video

Auto-advance: ON

Auto-advance

Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated

Argument saying this but the GSA is still attic is part of our job is diminished federal properties and he's an expert in this went to me in the latest act of out of control spending.

It GSE built a brand new -- -- nine million dollar courthouse.

Across the street from the old one.

Which -- it's completely empty.

With no plan for future use and it is still costing taxpayers.

More than a million dollars a year to maintain that old -- that's no one is using that's empty I would say I'm surprised.

-- this -- and it is the GSA and our government gone wild joining me now Jeff -- congressman thanks so much for joining us tonight.

-- -- -- thanks for having me you know this is so distressing and obviously this is just the latest story every day there's a news story about how our money is being wasted by this group.

This courthouse was a bad decision for so many reasons I mean a lot of it had to do with the size and the scope of it.

Just not.

Filling up there is no demand for it.

Who looks at these plans and signs off on them and says yes and then sends the money out how does not happen.

Well certainly over years of appropriation and planning it was a done at a time when they said we're gonna had all these new judges across the nation which never materialized in fact we have less judges now.

Then when they were proposed 120 years ago.

-- the most egregious thing has not only did they go out and build this new quarter else but the one -- sitting empty has been empty for more than a decade those of the properties we need to liquidate.

We needed to make sure that were either selling them off or redeveloping around creating jobs and and reducing our debt.

-- -- -- that I mean how do you plan to why did we build a new one in the first place of the old one.

Is just a white elephant at this point.

Well we shouldn't have -- in the first place I completely agree in fact we're trying to stop the LA courthouse from being -- it's the same type scenario works.

You've got.

A new court house you've got -- old courthouse that many of the floors -- sitting vacant and now they want to build a brand new courthouse just so that they can expand.

We're saying enough is enough we want to cancel the project.

And force GSA the live within its means.

It in you know this what really drives me crazy because of course I live in New York City and I keep reading about the 350 million dollar at least for four floors at the new Freedom Tower in downtown I mean this is.

Luxurious.

Gorgeous office space they're going to be on the fiftieth floor above Conde Nast -- and this I'm told.

They were supposed to get approval before they -- -- -- -- because the price is so insane and they just went ahead and did it with.

Out the proper approval.

Happening and who he's predicts when this -- some things happen because of this.

Well ultimately that.

But certainly this is something where they're just flat out breaking the law they've broken the law on three different places.

Even by GSA's own guidelines on the web site they know that they.

Can't do this pretty clearly stated they broke a lot can they go to jail I mean should they be fired shouldn't we be bringing these people up front and yelling at them something of -- how to make it stop.

Well we were actually.

Sending -- the information Department of Justice we want him to rule alumnus.

But certainly you know this ultimately goes to the president -- the president is the one who's trying to circumvent.

Congress and it has both parties infuriated.

Me if you can do this in new York and spend 350.

Billion dollars automate -- -- new.

Then what does that safer and every other property across the nation and really does that pull the relevance out of congress and it's certainly the administration trying to bypass.

The purse strings that are dictated through the constitution.

Yeah -- congressman.

Please make it stop because I promise you we in the media are not gonna get off this story we're gonna march to Washington and that's what it takes because people are really angry about this.

And the box got to stop somewhere.

Absolutely Nestle will want to do we want people to get -- -- gays who want him to let the administration now let's just say no.

But ultimately this is -- dollars.

Yeah -- presidents -- and aunts and I have a great weekend -- --