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Home Front: Politix
Trump administration wants to move government offices out of Washington
2017-12-10
h/t Instapundit
[LATimes] Amid the talk of draining swamps, restoring political might to blue-collar America and turning off the spigot of taxpayer cash that showers Washington, a familiar battle cry is ricocheting through this city: Move the bureaucrats out.

It has the ring of a Trumpian fantasy. Dislodge arms of the federal government from Washington and reattach them in faraway places, spreading the wealth generated by these well-paid agency workforces and forcing senior bureaucrats to face the people they affect.

But the idea has established populist roots that spread across party lines, and they are reemerging at this unique political moment.

The swaggering Interior secretary from Montana is putting the finishing touches on his plan to move the headquarters of three large public lands agencies to the West. The Stanford economist representing Silicon Valley in Congress sees opportunity to strategically seed regions of the country with pieces of the federal bureaucracy that can benefit them ‐ and that they can benefit. The unlikely prospect of locating the Department of Transportation in Los Angeles is dangled by Republicans eager to show this crusade has bipartisan cred.
Posted by:g(r)omgoru

#24  Barrow or Fairbanks Alaska....
Posted by: CrazyFool   2017-12-10 23:07  

#23  Anchorage
Posted by: rjschwarz   2017-12-10 21:50  

#22  Good swampy locations in Louisiana.
Posted by: Cheretle Angeans6218   2017-12-10 20:10  

#21  
Posted by: Anomalous Sources   2017-12-10 19:29  

#20  No moving expenses so only the dedicate move.
Posted by: 3dc   2017-12-10 16:22  

#19  Corruption will always be there. Distributing the FedGov simply makes it harder for the corruption to cooperate and correlate with each other and the legislative & judicial branches.

Be sure to have a thorough audit of each and every office moved out, giving anyone that does not wish to make the move an opportunity to resign or retire with not charges against them in any ensuing audit.

Rats will jump ship in a hurry. Gives the agency a fresh start.

Limit I would place: State Capitols do not get any fed gov sent their way. Neither do large urban metropolis type cities - say, top 25 largest metro areas.

This excludes:

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
3 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
5 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
6 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area
7 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metropolitan Statistical Area
8 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
10 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area
11 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
12 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area
13 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
14 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
15 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area
16 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
17 San Diego-Carlsbad, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
18 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
19 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area
20 St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area
21 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area
22 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area
23 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
24 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
25 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area

Remaining areas with > 1,000,000 in the area

26 Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
27 Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
28 Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area
29 Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area
30 Kansas City, MO-KS Metropolitan Statistical Area
31 Austin-Round Rock, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
32 Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area
33 Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area
34 Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area
35 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
36 Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area
37 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area
38 Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metropolitan Statistical Area
39 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
40 Jacksonville, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
41 Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area
42 Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metropolitan Statistical Area
43 Raleigh, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area
44 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area
45 Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area
46 New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area
47 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area
48 Salt Lake City, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area
49 Birmingham-Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area
50 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area
51 Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area
52 Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
53 Tucson, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area

Posted by: Injun Bucket8891   2017-12-10 15:55  

#18  Are you in favor of consolidated corruption or distrbuted corruption in the country? There might be some merit to distributed government offices if government could be pared down in the process.
Posted by: JohnQC   2017-12-10 15:36  

#17  I'm sure there's LOTS of land in Alaska available. Or some of the lovely remote areas of Wyoming.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2017-12-10 15:29  

#16  Diluting the swamp too. Pretty cool.
Posted by: Woodrow   2017-12-10 12:01  

#15  Move them to blue states in sufficient numbers to change Virginia into a solid red state.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2017-12-10 11:42  

#14  How about moving them to the very active volcanos on Hawaii ?
Posted by: Gleatch Ulese7439   2017-12-10 11:31  

#13  Why pollute decent country like Indiana or North Dakota when the People's Republic of Maryland is right there? Move to MD, they can have all the socialism they want and vote themselves more. Make Baltimore into DC jr. The normal population can put a fence around it and observe them like zoo animals.
Posted by: Cesare   2017-12-10 11:26  

#12  Personally I think the US capital itself should move every 10-20 years to some randomly selected city with >50K and <500K people.
Expensive? Yes but worth it.
Disruptive? Well that’s the point!
Plus watching those fat rats move to bumsuck Alabama, along with their mistresses and such would provide loads of entertainment.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2017-12-10 11:23  

#11  If you think about it, with today's technology of teleconferencing and advanced telephones, there is no real reason to even have Congress meet in one place. Everyone could meet via teleconference while staying in their home state/district. This would have the advantage of making the representatives more accessible to their constituents. In addition, a single nuke would not wipe out the entire government.

The main disadvantage would be that the lobbyists would have to set up 535 separate offices in order to bribe visit the congress critters.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2017-12-10 11:01  

#10  First, abolish a number of agencies (such as education, EPA, and FDA); second, severely trim the remaining ones. Then there won't be enough left that we care about moving their offices around.
Posted by: Si vis pacem   2017-12-10 10:39  

#9  Plenty of cheap land in North Dakota, and locals have a good worth ethnic. The severe winter weather will tend to keep riff-raff out of government, an added bonus.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-12-10 10:38  

#8  ...but only after the EPA finishes with removing the yuge amount of granite from the old sites.

[Granite is a natural source of radiation, like most natural stones. However, some granites have been reported to have higher radioactivity, thereby raising some concerns about their safety.]
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-12-10 08:17  

#7  Travel costs should be offset by massive windfall of selling GIVERnment high cost real estate and exiting corrupt lease agreements.
Posted by: Airandee    2017-12-10 07:45  

#6  When you finally do move them out, also put a ceiling on their travel budget.
Posted by Procopius2k


Location, location, location. I recommend Terre Haute Indiana. Several hours drive to a major airport and a Federal Penitentiary nearby.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-12-10 07:27  

#5  When you finally do move them out, also put a ceiling on their travel budget.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-12-10 07:21  

#4  The swaggering Interior secretary from Montana

LA Times bias on prominent display. A losing media
Posted by: Frank G   2017-12-10 07:01  

#3  ...YES!!!!!

I have been saying for years that there is no reason to have all of the government in Washington anymore, and it's good to see that the idea might be gaining traction. Make the government live with the people they work for - disrupt and fracture the bureacracy, and then do the same for Congress.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2017-12-10 06:50  

#2  If the so-called 'Base Realignment and Closure' (BRAC) was such a success story for the military, why not share it with the Swamp ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-12-10 06:34  

#1  Thinking and acting the same way I do.

De-centralize the power.
Posted by: newc   2017-12-10 03:13  

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