A witness testifying before a U.S. House committee on Tuesday told U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) it was his belief that spouses of sitting congressmen enrich themselves by renting real estate to the federal government, appearing to bolster the Tennessee Republican’s prior predictions that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would uncover corruption in Congress.
The exchange happened during a hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight, which was aimed at reducing the federal government’s real estate holdings and leases. Witnesses included David Marroni from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and John Hart, the CEO of the government transparency group OpenTheBooks.
Burchett, a member of the House DOGE subcommittee who was invited to participate in the hearing, began the inquiry by asking Hart, “Do spouses of members of congress own real property and lease it to the federal government? And how would we find that out? Because I think I know what you’re gonna say.”
Hart, who participated in the transparency initiative to place federal spending records online in 2006, replied affirmatively.
“I believe the answer to that question is yes,” said Hart.
He confirmed, “I do believe that,” before suggesting publicly available data gathered by OpenTheBooks could illustrate such connections.
Burchett then asked Marroni whether the OGA can provide data about how much of the space it has leased across the country is actively used by various federal agencies.
“I can’t say, there’s not good data. We just don’t have data,” Marroni told Burchett, before later adding that the government spends “about $6 billion on leased office space,” meaning that allowing leases for unused or underutilized space to expire without renewal could lead to “substantial savings.”
A post by the DOGE subcommittee on the social media platform X suggested that the exchange confirmed political corruption.
“Witness CONFIRMS that the families of politicians are profiting from leases to the federal government,” the subcommittee wrote. “Isn’t that the definition of corruption?”
Since joining the House DOGE subcommittee, Burchett has predicted that DOGE and Elon Musk would uncover political corruption in Congress, suggesting that lawmakers may be enriching themselves through deals involving their families.
“I suspect that the paper trail will lead back to some influential people and some folks, maybe even members of Congress,” Burchett said during a March interview. “That’s one thing I suggested to Musk: There are 435 members of Congress and I think you ought to investigate every dadgum one of them for ill-gotten gains.”
Burchett has suggested that such remarks have earned him enemies in Washington, D.C., stating during a recent podcast appearance, “The big boys tried to shut me down.”
He explained, “The truth is that they come after you, they isolate you, and I’ll never be in leadership, and I’ll never chair a major committee because of two things: I don’t raise enough money, and I don’t kiss enough ass.”
Watch the full committee hearing:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
In general Tim is on a live trail. His “dadgum” enumeration stops too soon. He should be targeting 435 reps + 100 senators + 2 executive branch electees = 537 potential targets for ‘ill-gotten gains.’
Lots of Congressional Bills to stop corruption need to be drafted & named appropriately.
AKA
Spouses & Other Family Members of Congress Members Shall not directly or indirectly Benefit Financially from the Power tgat can be bought & sold in DC.
The reality is that a small number of congressional members control the entire body. The passage of legislation has more to do with where the funding for it ends up rather than benefitting the American people.