“Drain the Swamp” might sound like just another empty campaign slogan to some, but for federal employees based in the nation’s capital, it may be about to get very real. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to start dispersing the many federal agencies based in DC across the country once back in office, and that’s likely no empty threat. After all, he has done it before – and it worked.
Trump and the Great Exodus
In 2020, then-President Trump moved the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to Grand Junction, Colorado – almost 2,000 miles west. The move was initially billed as a way to get agency staffers closer to the lands they’re responsible for and to save money. Former officials from the Trump administration still argue the move boosted efficiency and attracted job applicants who weren’t interested in moving to DC, where the cost of living is much higher. Some former BLM staffers even told reporters that the move allowed them to form better relationships with local government officials more familiar with the vast areas of public lands overseen by the agency – the vast majority of which are in the western part of the country.
However, reports show many former BLM employees found it disruptive and damaging overall. Tracy Stone-Manning, Joe Biden’s choice to lead the agency, called it a “cautionary tale” for the incoming Trump administration. Rather than make the move, many long-time Swamp denizens simply quit. “We are still piecing it back together,” she lamented.
Well, wasn’t that the point?
Draining the Swamp was always a part of the Trump agenda – and moving the central operations for bloated federal agencies is part of that plan. Of the 176 BLM staff told to relocate, only 41 did. The others either retired early, moved into other government positions, or just quit and looked for alternative kinds of work. The number of vacancies went from 121 in July 2019 to 326 in March 2020. And which employees did the nation lose? Public records show that most BLM staffers already worked in other states.
In other words, the lifetime bureaucrats – talk about draining the Swamp. Reclassifying thousands of federal employees through Schedule F, the executive order from Trump’s first term that made many lifetime bureaucrats employees who serve at the president’s pleasure, may be the ultimate plan for trimming the government’s fat, but it’s far from the president-elect’s only tool. Trump also moved two of the USDA’s research departments to Kansas City, Missouri, with similar results. Some might argue this wasn’t so much a “cautionary tale” as a successful trial run for the new administration.
An Inside Look
There are benefits to moving federal agencies out of DC – beyond simply pushing people to quit. Trey Trainor, commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for the last four-and-a-half years, argues his agency should head for Texas. In a piece published by the Daily Caller, Trainor argues it would cut costs, boost morale, and increase transparency.
“Currently, FEC employees receive a locality pay adjustment of 33.26%, simply due to the agency’s location in Washington, D.C. This premium is meant to offset the high cost of living in the D.C. area,” he explained. “While D.C. may be a hub for political activity, it is an expensive place to operate, and this extra pay is an unnecessary burden on taxpayers. Meanwhile, the nature of the FEC’s work has changed dramatically, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, which altered the way government agencies conduct business.”
Trainor explained that many FEC employees already work remotely for most of the week, with only occasional in-person days in the office – and that the agency is more efficient for it. Since fewer people actually have to spend the day in the office, the move wouldn’t be as disruptive to operations as many statists argue. “Relocating the agency to Odessa would not only cut out the need for costly locality pay but would also significantly lower operational expenses, saving taxpayers millions of dollars annually – funds that could be redirected to more productive uses,” he concluded.
Trainor also argued that the move to Odessa would decentralize the federal government, “allowing employees to choose a location that suits their preferred lifestyle, which is crucial for morale.” Furthermore, it would “bring the government closer to the people,” a crucial task for an agency all about transparency.
“It’s time to stop asking if we can afford to make this move and start asking if we can afford not to,” Trainor wrote. “The future of government is here – and it is not tied to Washington, D.C.”
Trump promised on the campaign trail to move 100,000 or more federal jobs out of the capital, dispersing the federal government around the nation and opening up more opportunities for “patriots who love America.” In one campaign video, he declared: “This is how I will shatter the deep state.”
The president-elect certainly has his work cut out for him. The Biden administration has worked hard to “Trump-proof” these roles against the coming return of Schedule F. He also reopened the DC offices Trump closed, which for any employees ordered back to the Swamp, meant even more disruption.
How well those efforts will work remains to be seen; typically, what is done by executive action can later be undone by executive action. In the short term, relocating federal agencies out of the heart of the Swamp and scattering them around the nation can be a viable workaround – even if it does bring a bit of chaos in the beginning. In the long term, however, it could actually cut costs, increase efficiency, and help keep everyone honest.
