When then-candidate Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp last year, it was a promise that resonated with millions of Americans across the nation. Now, in an effort to keep that promise, President Trump is making D.C. politicians cringe.
What’s happening?
The LA Times reported that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is planning on moving his headquarters from Washington to somewhere out West as soon as the logistics are sorted.
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In addition, Warren Davidson, a Tea Party activist Congressman from Ohio, has introduced a new bill that he appropriately calls the “Drain the Swamp Act.” This act “repeals the requirement that all offices attached to the seat of the federal government be exercised in the District of Columbia, except as otherwise expressly provided by law.”
Each executive agency would have to submit a plan to relocated its headquarters out of Washington by September 2018.
In addition, each agency would have until 2023 to be out of Washington, D.C.
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I can hear that swamp draining now.
What has been the reaction?
Of course, when you’re dealing with entrenched Washingtonians, you’re going to run into some opposition.
The LA Times reported that House representative for Washington Elenor Holmes Norton “warned that it would cost taxpayers a fortune, spread dysfunction throughout the bureaucracy and economically devastate the region.”
Even Republican Jason Chaffetz suggested that the Department of Transportation could end up in liberal Los Angeles.
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There are also those who claim that the cost to move all the departments across the country would be astronomical.
However, as noted by Paul Kupiec, scholar from the American Enterprise Institute, “There is all this unused office space outside of Detroit where the FBI could build for not much money.”
“Why are we spending billions of dollars on these headquarters in Washington?”
He’s absolutely right.
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Why is this important?
“When you have this concentration of important people all in a single place, they form their own tight networks immune to other influences,” said David Fontana, a professor at George Washington University Law School.
One of the primary reasons Trump was elected was because he wasn’t part of the Washington establishment. Americans wanted someone who wasn’t part of the “in-crowd” when it comes to Washingtonian politics. So now, the administration is wanting to send the agencies and its money to other parts of the country.
Politicians in Washington need to get out there to hear what real American’s are thinking. They don’t understand why so many Americans voted for Trump because they haven’t taken the time to listen.
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If this bill passes, and the administration gets their way, we can see these institutions making their way to a city near you. With it will come an infusion of money into the local economy, and hopefully, a greater understanding of what’s actually important to the American people.
H/T LA Times
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