Joining forces with an Iowa Republican, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine is pushing to relocate many federal government offices outside the nation’s capital.

The four-term Lewiston Democrat told Fox News Digital that Maine could house agencies that focus on issues like fishing.

Fishing boats are seen in Lubec, one of the towns U.S. Rep. Jared Golden represents. Golden says he would like to see Maine host a federal agency that focuses on fishing issues, and see other agencies move from Washington, D.C., to locations closer to the people they serve.  Steve Collins/Sun Journal

“No one knows better than fishermen what it takes to make a living on the water, or the threat that new regulations from far away can pose not only to their livelihoods but to their entire community or region,” said Golden, whose 2nd District encompasses the some of Maine’s major fishing ports.

Golden and U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, an Iowa Republican, introduced a bill to push for the relocation of federal agencies that are not focused on national security.

They said agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior should look for office space closer to the people they serve.

“Redistributing federal agencies and jobs around the country would bring the government closer to the people, ensure regulators are embedded in the communities that thrive or struggle based on their rulings and bring good-paying jobs out of the beltway and into communities across the country,” Golden told Fox.

President Donald Trump has often said he wants to see federal offices spread around the nation. During his first term, he took a few small steps toward doing so without making headway.

But on the campaign trail last year, he insisted he will succeed in a second term.

The bill proposed by Golden and Hinson would “establish a competitive bidding process for the relocation of the headquarters of executive agencies,” according to the congressional website.

One of the buildings occupied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. If U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine has his way, it and other agencies could relocate from the nation’s capital to states closer to the people they serve, like Iowa. Steve Collins/Sun Journal

The bill was sent last week for review by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Its details are not yet available.

Hinson, whose district relies heavily on farming, told Fox that “moving federal agencies out of Washington and closer to the people most impacted will ensure that federal bureaucrats who have never left D.C. aren’t issuing out-of-touch mandates that disproportionately harm working families, small businesses, and our farmers who feed and fuel the world.”

She added there is “no valid reason” to keep the agriculture department in Washington, D.C., rather than in Iowa, where its decisions make a far greater difference in the lives of residents.

One of Iowa’s senators, Republican Joni Ernst, introduced a related bill that would require “each executive agency to relocate 30 percent of the employees assigned to the headquarters of the executive agency to duty stations outside the Washington metropolitan area.”

She bills it as a way to “drain the swamp” in the nation’s capital.