House OKs D.C. Office Exodus

In a cost-cutting bid, the House voted today to allow most federal agencies to move their headquarters out of the costly District of Columbia and lease office space in suburban Virginia and Maryland.

The change could produce “significant savings to the government,” said Rep. Glenn M. Anderson (D-San Pedro), chairman of the House Public Works Committee. Under current law, most agencies are required to have their headquarters in Washington. But the bill, approved on a voice vote and sent to the Senate, would prohibit the “principal offices” of the 13 Cabinet-level departments from relocating outside the district.