Watchdog report finds 75 non-existent agencies in Federal Register

The Federal Register is supposed to be a repository of what’s going on in the government, but a new study released Tuesday says its records are so out-of-date that it lists 75 agencies that no longer exist.

Many were created as temporary agencies, while others have since been absorbed into other government work, according to Open the Books, the watchdog group that conducted the study.

The Air Quality National Commission, for example, was terminated in 1981. Amtrak’s Reform Council hasn’t been in operation for more than two decades.

But both still have Federal Register webpages.

In an email, the Office of the Federal Register told The Washington Times that “Federalregister.gov has entries for every agency that has published in the Federal Register since at least the late 1990s.”

“It’s not intended as a list of current agencies,” reads the unsigned message from the office, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration and employs about 100 people.

Open the Books says that’s part of the issue — nobody takes responsibility for being the source of information about current government activities. That’s a problem for people trying to get a handle on just what their government is, and isn’t, doing.

“If the federal government were a book, there’s no usable table of contents for the average American to find what they’re seeking,” the watchdog said.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Open the Books CEO John Hart said his team conducted “a deep dive on all 441 agencies and subagencies in the Federal Register.”

“Our first discovery: 75 agencies are defunct and can be immediately deleted,” Mr. Hart posted on X.

David L. Winstead, a member of the Public Buildings Reform Board, an independent federal agency with a mandate to dispose of underused government properties, said it got harder under the Biden administration to know how federal workers spent their weekdays.

“I mean, it’s just ’missing in action,’” said Mr. Winstead, Maryland’s transportation secretary under former Democratic Gov. Parris Glendening. “Since COVID, it’s almost impossible to get ahold of anyone. Their cellphones aren’t even listed in many cases because they’re teleworking.”

In a report last year, the PBRB said 23 large federal agencies used only 12% of their headquarters space in the nation’s capital. An analysis of cellphone use during the first nine months of 2023 found an average of just eight people a day worked in the Department of Energy’s 1.8 million square foot headquarters on Independence Avenue.

Mr. Winstead said the PBRB largely ignores the Federal Register in its assessments. The group plans to issue recommendations within the next two months on which government buildings should be sold, consolidated or redeveloped to lease unused space.

“You have to go beyond that and get to the data that’s being sent to the Office of Management and Budget, presumably annually,” he said in a phone call. “Unfortunately, under the Biden administration, the OMB didn’t collect data for the past three years.”

The Open the Books report comes as the incoming Trump administration has pledged to reduce government waste through its newly created Department of Government Efficiency.

“The scope of DOGE’s task becomes clearer when you peruse the Federal Register – the official journal of the United States government, where all rules and public notices can be found,” the report said.

The Times has reached out to DOGE for comment.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have long complained there is no central list of government programs, making it tough to get a handle on the true scope of federal spending.

Before leaving office this month, President Joseph R. Biden signed a law extending the authority of the PBRB and requiring the Office of Management and Budget and General Services Administration to standardize their reporting on federal agencies’ activities.

“This bill will allow us to better measure occupancy and utilization of public buildings, identify opportunities for consolidation, and determine federal buildings that are no longer needed,” said Rep. Sam Graves, Missouri Republican and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

According to Mr. Winstead, who attended a PBRB meeting Tuesday, federal agencies must now report their building usage to GSA and give up any spaces that are not 60% occupied.

“Candidly, it’s inexcusable,” said Mr. Winstead, a former GSA public buildings commissioner. “The taxpayers are paying a fortune.”

• Stephen Dinan contributed to this story.