IKEA beds? Dressers? Inside the ‘exceedingly odd’ DOGE office setup
Details of the arrangements at GSA offer a window into the lifestyle of DOGE workers.
By Hannah Northey and Danny Nguyen
03/06/2025 07:39 PM EST
As DOGE staffers dismantle the federal workforce, they’re following Elon Musk’s ethos of moving fast and breaking things. But even DOGE workers need to slow down and sleep — and they’re increasingly doing so in a federal office building, an arrangement that ethics experts said could break longstanding agency rules.
At the General Services Administration’s towering federal office building in downtown Washington, workers have set up at least four separate rooms on the 6th floor for sleeping, complete with beds from IKEA, lamps and dressers, according to two career GSA employees.
These rooms share office space with conference rooms and are accessible only with high-security clearances, said the workers, who were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
The agency is also considering spending about $25,000 to install a washer and dryer on the building’s 6th floor, according to a Feb. 25 invoice obtained by POLITICO. There is also a child’s play area decorated with a stuffed animal and toys, according to a photo of the room shared with POLITICO.
“People are definitely … sleeping there,” said one GSA staffer.
It remains unclear exactly how often the rooms are in use or for what length of time.
Details of the arrangements at GSA — a federal building on 18th and F Street NW where more than 1,000 staffers work — offer a window into the lifestyle DOGE workers are creating, even as they work to cut staff and slash spending across the federal government.
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https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/06/doge-federal-office-bedrooms-00216863
