Federal agencies will be forced to use buildings at 60% capacity or they will SELL 11,000 acres of unused space, while Republicans push back on Biden’s remote ‘bloated’ bureaucracy and waste taxpayers’ $2 billion a year

Republicans are tackling Biden’s “bloated bureaucracy” with a new bill that will force the federal workforce back into the office.

The bill led by Rep. Scott Perry, which passed 217-203 Tuesday night, would require federal agencies to operate their offices at 60 percent capacity or sell the buildings.

Damning reports reveal that government employees have attended meetings while taking a hot tub, still got paid on the golf course, and attended happy hours while on the job.

All federal agencies are at less than 50 percent capacity, wasting an estimated $2.8 million per day.

Republicans say it’s an insult to taxpayers, as agencies spend about $2 billion annually to operate and maintain more than 27,000 acres of federal office buildings and more than $5 billion annually on leases.

“Right now, American taxpayers are being forced to pay $2 billion a year for office space — nearly half the size of Disney World — that DC bureaucrats refuse to use,” Perry wrote on X.

“President Biden is dealing with over 10,000 acres of old, unused buildings,” Perry, R-Pa., continued.

“American taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for unelected federal bureaucrats who refuse to return to work,” Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told DailyMail.com in an exclusive statement.

“House Republicans are making good on our promise to reduce government waste and cut the Biden administration’s bloated bureaucracy with Congressman Perry’s commonsense legislation,” the top Republican continued.

According to a December memo from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), no federal agency has more than half of its staff in the office.

The shocking findings come after Biden formally ended the COVID-19 emergency nearly a year ago and his chief of staff Jeff Zients pushed for the federal bureaucracy’s return to in-person work by the fall.

Biden also famously declared the pandemic “over” in September 2022, surprising members of his own team.

The data shows “estimated three-month average space usage” statistics collected for 24 agencies over one-week periods in January, February and March 2023.

The agency with the largest percentage of office workers during the three months was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 49 percent. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) took home the award for the least use of space (7 percent).

The Social Security Administration pegged HUD at a 7 percent occupancy rate, followed by the Small Business Administration at 9 percent. The General Services Administration (GSA) put the Department of Agriculture at a paltry 11 percent.

Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients also instructed cabinet heads to ensure their staff return to the office this year.

According to a memo obtained by DailyMail.com, he wrote in January that federal employees must spend at least 50 percent of their work time in the office to achieve the administration’s goals.

He emphasized the State Department’s “expectation” for all employees to be in the office at least three to four times a week, because there is “no substitute” for “face-to-face” contact when it comes to diplomacy.

But he also acknowledged that “some of your agencies are not where they need to be.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, led the charge on the other side of the Capitol.

She wrote a letter to all federal agencies last year demanding an immediate overhaul of their telework and pay policies.

Ernst told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that while taxpayers are on the hook for wasted space, “they are the ones being put on hold because bureaucrats don’t show up for work.”

‘It’s time to end the waste. My message to Biden’s bureaucrats is simple: use it or lose it. If the Biden administrator doesn’t want to use expensive desk space to serve the American people, we should sell it.”