WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Jeff Denham’s bill, the Civilian Property Realignment Act (CPRA), will be on the House Floor tonight with votes expected tomorrow. The bipartisan bill implements common-sense policies to help eliminate government waste and save billions of taxpayer dollars, according to a news release from Denham's office.

CPRA will literally shrink the size of government and help ensure savings through selling or redeveloping high value properties, consolidating federal space, maximizing the utilization rates of space, and streamlining the disposal of unneeded assets, the news release said. Below is an article about the bipartisan effort. Washington Business Journal: Civilian BRAC bill poised for House vote 2/3/12 A proposal to create a commission to sell underutilized federal properties appears poised for passage in the House as the members of a powerful committee lent their support to the proposed so-called Civilian BRAC bill in a hearing Friday morning.

Members of the House Rules Committee praised co-sponsors Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., and congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., for collaborating on what they characterized as a bipartisan effort to shed unneeded real estate from the federal government’s portfolio and move agencies into more efficient space.

Congress could vote as early as next week on the measure, which has been pending in the House since its introduction in May 2011.

“I want to commend you all for doing this,” Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said during the hearing. “We need to show that we can work together on these issues, and I don’t think anyone wants to see waste.”

In its current form, H.R. 1734 does not contain several controversial provisions that pitted House Republicans against Democrats during a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing last fall. Denham said that to build consensus he decided not to push for those items, which included moving the Federal Trade Commission to space in Southwest D.C. and giving its building to the National Gallery of Art.

“The purpose of 1734 is to actually shrink the size of government,” Denham told the commission.

Denham and Norton, neither of whom are part of the 12-member Rules Committee, testified side-by-side for less than 30 minutes in support of the legislation. They and several members of the committee expressed frustration with how long it takes to get the federal government to sell properties it no longer needs.

Denham cited as an example the Old Post Office Pavilion in the District, which has been vacant but on the federal government’s property rolls for more than a decade. He said the building is costing the federal government $6.5 million a year in upkeep.

The General Services Administration initiated an effort to find developers to reuse the property and has received several bids from companies that would turn it into a hotel. But that process has taken more than a year, and Denham said after the hearing that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has scheduled a Feb. 9 public hearing to find where the project stands.

Under the Civilian BRAC proposal, an independent commission similar to the military’s base realignment and closure commissions would be formed to evaluate the federal government’s property holdings and determine which should be sold or put to better use. The commission’s first task would be to come up with five properties worth at least $500 million to sell, proceeds from which would be used in part to subsidize its efforts going forward.

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