The Covid-19 public emergency was officially cancelled in May, and two Senators are calling on feds to return to their offices, or for the government to get rid of unused office space. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wrote a May 22 letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) inquiring about office space usage.

“Federal building occupancy data would better inform the American people and Congress on how federal office space, paid for by taxpayer dollars, is utilized. After all, it is the American people’s money that support these federal buildings,” the Senators wrote. They asked four questions “in order for Congress to conduct objective and independent oversight concerning the utilization and occupancy of federal office buildings and the costs to the taxpayer.”

Among their requests, the senators asked for “a list of each GSA managed federal building and the Department or agency occupying the property,” including average occupancy data over the past five years, the annual rental, operation, and maintenance costs during that timeframe.

The Senators asked for a response from GSA Administrator Carnahan by early June.