A bill proposes moving some federal agencies out of Washington, D.C.
The current address for the headquarters of the United States Department of Agriculture is 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, in Washington D.C.
But that could change.
Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson introduced the Strategic Withdrawal of Agencies for Meaningful Placement (SWAMP) Act, which proposes moving non-national security related agency headquarters out of Washington, D.C. and into communities that best reflect those agencies.
The Department of Defense, National Security Agency, and Department of Homeland Security, for example, wouldn’t be eligible for movement out of D.C.
The bill also establishes a bidding process to ensure a state is well equipped to conduct the work of a specific department.
Stationing the USDA somewhere like Iowa makes sense, Hinson said.
"I would question how many of these bureaucrats in D.C., for example, have ever stepped foot on an Iowa farm or a farm in general," Hinson told the Des Moines Register. "I think that's really important as they're making these decisions on grant opportunities or on rules and regulations that they actually have a front-row seat to that and that's something that I think has been missing from the federal government for far too long."
Sen. Joni Ernst introduced similar legislation in the Senate.
At least one House Democrat supports the idea.
Moving federal agencies closer to those who benefit from specific departments can empower communities, says Maine Rep. Jared Golden.
“No one knows better than fishermen what it takes to make a living on the water, or the threat that new regulations from far away can pose not only to their livelihoods but to their entire community or region,” he said in a statement. Redistributing federal agencies and jobs around the country would bring the government closer to the people, ensure regulators are embedded in the communities that thrive or struggle based on their rulings and bring good-paying jobs out of the beltway and into communities across the country.”