Congress locks federal agencies in D.C., requiring new law to move them
H.R. 1807 — Protecting Federal Agencies and Employees from Political Interference Act of 2025 · Filed by Eleanor Norton (D-DC) · Introduced Mar 3, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill locks federal agency headquarters and employee positions currently in Washington, D.C. in place, requiring Congress to pass new legislation before any can be moved elsewhere. It is a direct response to proposals to relocate federal agencies out of the capital region and aims to prevent executive-branch relocation orders from taking effect without explicit congressional approval.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to reassert Congress's constitutional role in approving federal agency relocations, preventing unilateral executive action. It is a separation-of-powers measure, not a substantive policy on agency operations.
What the text implies
- Freezes the geographic footprint of federal employment as of March 3, 2025, potentially locking in inefficiencies or outdated office locations unless Congress acts.
- May increase federal real-estate costs in the National Capital region if agencies cannot relocate to lower-cost areas, indirectly raising taxpayer burden.
- Protects federal jobs in D.C. but may reduce opportunities for federal employment growth in other regions, creating geographic inequality in public-sector opportunity.
- Requires affirmative legislation for any relocation, raising the procedural bar and potentially enabling minority obstruction of efficiency measures.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill protects congressional authority over agency location and preserves existing federal employment in the capital region, which benefits D.C.-area workers and the local economy. However, it may prevent cost-saving or efficiency-driven relocations that could benefit taxpayers or improve service delivery in underserved regions, and it constrains executive flexibility in managing the federal workforce.
Who stands to gain
- Washington D.C. real-estate market and commercial landlords
- D.C.-area federal employees (job security and local wage premium)
- D.C. local government (tax base and economic activity)
Named in the bill
Federal Government, National Capital Region, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Congress
Where it stands
- Mar 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 9 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $450,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 78% of bills with at least one filing.
Eleanor Norton, the sponsor, reported $12,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Missionsquare Retirement — $270,000 on 2 filings
- Jackson National Life Insurance Company — $100,000 on 2 filings
- Empower Retirement LLC — $40,000 on 2 filings
- Investment Company Institute — $40,000 on 1 filing
- Fmr LLC — $0 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (828 characters) on Oct 26, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,580 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-26.
“Congress locks federal agencies in D.C., requiring new law to move them” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1807 Report an error
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