Mice, a Caved-In Ceiling, and Cloudy Water: The GSA’s New Office Is Falling Apart
Federal employees at the GSA report deteriorating office conditions, including vermin and structural damage, following aggressive workforce cuts and budget changes by the Department of Government Efficiency. Leadership has indicated that staff will remain in these facilities until at least 2028.
Why it matters
This highlights the practical, human-impact consequences of rapid federal downsizing and the challenges of maintaining government infrastructure under austerity measures.
The federal workforce has been rocked by changes made by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) since January 2025. DOGE effectively fired tens of thousands of workers and forced those who remained to commit to in-person schedules and, in some cases, zero-based budgeting. GSA, the agency in charge of the federal government’s IT services and real estate assets, was hit early by DOGE, and in addition to major workforce cuts also rolled out plans to sell hundreds of federal office buildings. A year after the cuts, GSA announced it planned to hire about 400 workers.
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