900,000 properties, over 3 billion square feet and over 40 million acres of lan. but many of the properties are under utilized, mismag managed or sitting empty, costing billions of dollars. you don t have to look hard. in fact, we are a few blocks from the u.s. capitol, where this building, owned by the gsa, has been sitting empty over five years. congressman john mica of the transportation and infrastructure committee wants something done about t. where are we? we are in an empty federal building that has been vacant for five years, costing the taxpayers a lot of money. as you can see, there is nobody here. reporter: and in this particular building, you said it s empty for five years. whose building is it? why is it empty? it s the people s building. it s under the control of gsa. it s costing, not just this building, but across the
money, where the engine broke and they had to get towed in. you have the magicians they are hiring at conferences. you have a complete lack of accountability. it is very, very frustrating, not only for me, but the fisherman whose lives of dramatically affected by this. reporter: let s separate those. the magician, after the gsa scandal, noaa wanted to hire a magician? it shows there is a complete disregard for the finds and monies they are getting. i have called for a firing. i think that s a good start to re-establish the trust between the federal government and the fishermen because right now, they are hurting. there is a complete lack of trust, not only with the science, but with the administration as a whole. reporter: what specifically did noaa did that, you know, impacts american taxpayers, when it comes to like the party boat? a lot of our viewers may be hearing about this for the first time. thri should look at the independent report. there was a host of things from
you will easy to do. so by the time it came to the $800,000 party, the fact is the damage had been going on for a period of time, unchecked. you make the most important point, which is congress has to be proactive. we have to see the trends coming. we have to have more direct relation welts i.g.s and the other parts of the government. we need the transparency so we can be part of the solution, whether the administration is willing to take action or not. greta: how do we get that? how do the american people get ha? we wasm congress fight over the budget, one side wants taxes raised and another side doesn t want taxes raised and we look at the waste and fraud and we think, maybe you ought to do your oversight and stop wasting. maybe we don t need as much money. the american people are watching. you guys i appreciate you coming here but a lot of it is really, the problem is, you know, you members of congress and the white house are part of the problem a big part of it!
they purchase with noaa find money, where the engine broke and they had to get towed in. you have the magicians they are hiring at conferences. you have a complete lack of accountability. it is very, very frustrating, not only for me, but the fisherman whose lives of dramatically affected by this. reporter: let s separate those. the magician, after the gsa scandal, noaa wanted to hire a magician? it shows there is a complete disregard for the finds and monies they are getting. i have called for a firing. i think that s a good start to re-establish the trust between the federal government and the fishermen because right now, they are hurting. there is a complete lack of trust, not only with the science, but with the administration as a whole. reporter: what specifically did noaa did that, you know, impacts american taxpayers, when it comes to like the party boat? a lot of our viewers may be hearing about this for the first time. thri should look at the independent report.
there was a host of things from shredding party, where somebody was being investigated, actually shredded 70% of the documents. the lack of us requesting documents to verify a lot of things that were in effect, being done. a complete lack of trust between the fishermen and noaa with the science associated with determining what fish stocks can be fished and what fish stocks can t be fished. you talk about the finds. three, four, five times higher fining for massachusetts fishermen than anywhere else in the country. that money went to buy a party boat, a $300,000 yacht where they went out and partied. reporter: officials at noaa? officials at noaa. they had more vehicles than employees. they didn t go through the appropriate process to actually work to in fact get the vehicles. so there is a systemic lack of accountability.