The Department of Education will move to its Lyndon B. Johnson Building this August to make room for a new tenant: the Department of Energy. The Johnson Building is leaving the headquarters.
Thursday’s announcement is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to dismantle the Education Department, where nearly half the staff has been eliminated since President Donald Trump reentered office last year — departures that made the cuts possible.
“Thanks to the hard work of so many people, we have made unprecedented progress in reducing the federal education footprint, and we are now pleased to turn this building over to an agency that will benefit from its location far more than the Department of Education,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
It is unclear how the Energy Department, which has a vast portfolio that includes nuclear security and other sensitive matters, will adapt the physical spaces at the current Education Department headquarters. But Education Department said The relocation will save taxpayers more than $4 million annually in rental costs, adding that the smaller staff means about 70 percent of the headquarters’ space “is not being utilized.”
Education Department employees will move to 500 D St. NW, a process that will happen in phases, according to the agency.
The Energy Department moving a few blocks away from its Forrestal headquarters — which the Heritage Foundation has deemed worthy of inclusion on its “disposable federal buildings list” because of its appearance and age — will also save taxpayers about $350 million in maintenance costs, the agency said.
The head of the General Services Administration, which manages federal government assets, was particularly excited.
“GSA is partnering with the Department of Education and the Department of Energy to fulfill their missions of tomorrow with the ideal environment that will empower their talented workforce, cut waste and reduce costs,” GSA Administrator Ed Forst said in a statement.
The move is almost certain to be a major point of discussion when McMahon defends the president’s budget on Capitol Hill in the coming week, but Republican lawmakers applauded the decision.
The House Education and Workforce Chair said, “Once again, the Trump Administration is taking a strong step to reduce the bureaucracy problem and act as a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars.” tim walberg (R-Mich.) said in a statement. “Since the beginning of this Administration, President Trump and Secretary McMahon have been committed to right-sizing the Department so that our education system serves students, not bureaucrats.”
Representative. bobby scott The top Democrat on Walberg’s committee (D-Va.) suggested that the agency not discuss the matter with lawmakers.
“It is also not clear whether the Secretary bothered to adequately inform the remaining ED staff, let alone consult Congress, before making this decision public,” he said in a statement.
Other Democrats are criticizing the Trump administration for what it could be a costly move.
“Instead of actually helping students, Trump and his billionaire education secretary are incinerating millions of taxpayer dollars with these stunts,” said the Democratic appropriator and former Senate education chair. patty murray (D-wash.) said on x.
McMahon’s move is one of several taking place across the federal government.
Last month, Department of Housing and Urban Development staff began moving from its Washington headquarters near the National Mall to a new building in Alexandria, Virginia, where the National Science Foundation briefly lived — prompting a trio of Senate Democrats to call for a Government Accountability Office investigation. Like the Department of Education, HUD’s changes came after the Trump administration Reduction in number of employees in NSFThe agency’s ranks shrank by nearly a third from about 1,800 employees before Trump returned to the White House.
