Congress bill targets protection of New Deal murals in federal buildings

House lawmakers have introduced a bill that would create a formal preservation process for federally commissioned artwork when federal buildings are sold or otherwise disposed of, as the General Services Administration continues an accelerated program for disposing of underused federal properties.

Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, introduced the Protecting Resources and Ensuring Stewardship of Enduring Records of Visual Expression Act, known as the PRESERVE Act, on July 14, 2026. The measure is a proposal, not enacted law. It was referred to House committees, and no hearing, markup, vote or other committee action beyond that referral was verified.

What the bill would require

The PRESERVE Act would require GSA to convene preservation experts and establish a plan for publicly commissioned artwork early in the process of disposing of a federal property.

The proposal would also require continued public access to the artwork. The bill describes access through an outlease term or by transferring the work to another public building. That process would be intended to address works that are tied to a building’s architecture rather than treated as portable collection objects.

Titus’s office says GSA’s collection contains about 26,000 works displayed in museums and federal buildings nationwide. That is a sponsor-office estimate, not an independently audited total.

Why the Cohen Building is central

The key case study is the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, D.C. GSA identifies the building as a National Register-listed property connected to the New Deal and the early history of the Social Security program.

GSA’s building record says the Section of Fine Arts, a New Deal art program, commissioned exterior sculptures and interior murals there. The interior works include murals by Seymour Fogel, Philip Guston, Ethel and Jenne Magafan, and Ben Shahn. The building also has granite bas-relief panels by Emma Lou Davis and Henry Kreis.

Some of the murals are frescoes or otherwise integrated into the building’s surfaces. Titus’s office and independent reporting by The Art Newspaper have emphasized that such works cannot be handled like portable paintings and may require specialized conservation expertise to protect or relocate.

That concern does not establish that the Cohen Building will be demolished or that its murals will be destroyed. The selected records do not establish a final sale, transfer or demolition order for the building.

GSA property disposals broaden the question

The issue extends beyond Washington. GSA’s official accelerated-disposition list was last updated July 23, 2026, and includes federal properties in multiple states. The list identifies some properties as sold or disposed of while others remain listed for possible disposition.

GSA says the program is intended to rightsize the federal real-estate portfolio and dispose of unneeded or underused assets. The agency says it is expediting the process while complying with applicable laws, coordinating with affected agencies and considering factors such as occupancy, condition, reinvestment needs and mission requirements.

The proposed legislation would add a specific art-preservation and public-access process to that broader property-disposal framework. It would require the planning to begin early, before a property is disposed of, rather than leaving the treatment of commissioned art to arrangements made later in the process.

Why the issue reaches beyond one collection

GSA says it commissions and cares for artworks in its Fine Arts Collection through its Art in Architecture and Fine Arts programs. The agency also says it manages, inventories and recovers thousands of federal artworks created or loaned during the New Deal era.

That history matters because New Deal public art was created for civic spaces across the country, including federal buildings that now face changing uses, ownership or maintenance needs. In buildings such as the Cohen Building, the art is part of the architecture and public history as well as an individual work of art.

What happens next

Nothing changes immediately under the PRESERVE Act because it has not become law and has not advanced beyond introduction and committee referral in the records reviewed for this article.

The developments to watch are any committee hearing or markup, changes to the bill, additional congressional sponsors, and GSA decisions about preservation or public-access terms for individual properties. The future disposition of the Cohen Building is also unresolved in the selected records.

For cultural institutions and the public, the central question is whether federally commissioned art will remain accessible when the buildings that house it change ownership or use. The Cohen Building shows why that question can involve architecture, public history and conservation—not only the transfer of objects from one collection to another.

Sources

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