What 21 House GOPers want the federal government to start saying. (Image via Shutterstock)

Washington D.C. is a favored punching bag for people who like to attack the federal government.

Clearly, 21 Republicans on the House Oversight Committee were not thinking of their zingers when they voted for a resolution to move some federal agencies elsewhere in the country.

Iowa Congressman Rod Blum, for instance, voted in favor of the measure. He’s best known around these parts for seeing cranes for the construction of The Wharf, a project funded by private developers, and griping, “Washington DC is booming. Tower cranes everywhere. Being built on the backs of US taxpayers. DC needs a recession.” It wasn’t even the first time he said it!

But which population of 681,000 Americans will he wish ill upon now if it succeeds? Will anyone think of Rod Blum’s quips?

The non-binding resolution, called Divest D.C., passed on a 21-19 vote on Friday, with Republican Congressman Steve Russell of Oklahoma joining Democrats in opposition. It doesn’t lay out any concrete plans for moving the agencies.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton pointed out the costs of such a move. “Cabinet-level executive branch agency headquarters are located in federally-owned spaces in D.C., and the federal government would have to fork over new construction and leasing funds,” she said in a statement. “The federal government would also be throwing away the significant infrastructure investments it has made in this region.”

She called the Divest D.C. effort “gratuitous, punitive, and prohibitively costly” and doubts it will make it to the House floor. If it did, she would not be permitted to vote on it.

House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz said at the hearing on Wednesday that “I do believe conceptually in my heart that if you want a government that is reflective of the people, they need to be closer to the people.”

The vast majority of the federal government is already housed outside of the District, which has a little more than 7 percent of total federal civilian employment. The Washington metro area, including Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia along with D.C., has a little under 15 percent.

Chaffetz has become a heel in the District for his insistence on meddling in local government, to the point where Washingtonians began calling his office with constituent complaints, and folks have launched a PAC to oust him.

He said on Wednesday, without a hint of irony, that he introduced the Divest D.C. resolution because “it’s very hard for [my constituents] to understand why some desk jockey in D.C. gets to make decisions about what’s going on in their own back yard.” Having people entirely unaccountable to you making decisions on your behalf sounds like it’d be very hard indeed.

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