Why are Biden government employees STILL working from home? Republicans want to know how many federal officials are working remotely due to COVID — saying US taxpayers ‘deserve better’
- Letters reached the heads of bureaus with a nine-point questionnaire
- Lawmakers demand information on telecommuting agreement, office usage
- Comes after the DC mayor pleaded with the White House to return workers
House Republicans are blowing letters to the heads of the Biden administration to try and get information on exactly how many federal employees are continuing to work from home three years into the COVID-19 pandemic.
The letters, which total 150 pages, coincide with Biden’s end of declaring a national emergency over the pandemic, the end of Title 42 authority at the border and the scrapping of some testing procedures for people coming to the country. go White House. House.
The push, by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer and Subcommittee on Human Resources Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, comes long after many private sector companies have brought people back to work – but amid the struggles of employment agencies to retain workers.
The letters ask heads of bureaus from the NASA Administrator to the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and the Chief of Housing to answer nine detailed questions about furlough, telecommuting, and the average number of days employees who telecommute are out of the office each week .
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer has written to federal agencies asking for information on how many employees are telecommuting
They also look for occupancies on their Washington, DC. area offices – and in a hint about resource maintenance, ask if they have any plans to adjust their ‘property footprint’ based on current plans.
The letter references DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s demand in her inaugural address this year for “decisive action” by the White House to “get most federal employees back to office” or look at the government’s real estate offerings in the city.
“The Biden administration has allowed agencies to continue levels of telecommuting and remote work that are significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels,” the letter said. However, the administration has not provided current data on the specific amount of telecommuting within federal agencies or across the entire federal workforce. Moreover, it has not provided objective evidence regarding the impact of high telework on agency performance – including any detrimental effects.”
The House passed the SHOWUP bill in February, which aims to restore pre-pandemic levels of telecommuting.
Republicans slammed Kiran Ahuja, director of Office Personnel Management, at a March hearing on federal telecommuting policies — at a time when agencies are facing retirement and retention issues.
The letters were directed to agencies from NASA to the Department of the Interior
Subcommittee on Government Operations and Federal Labor Force Chairman Pete Sessions, Representative of the United States, joined in the letter, which also asks about the occupancy rate of agencies’ DC offices
“While COVID is no longer the driver of our workforce decisions, employers have updated tools and knowledge about managing employees in hybrid work environments and the benefits to their customers,” she said.
Ahuja said the policy has had a “positive impact on workplace flexibility in areas such as productivity, engagement and diversification of the talent pool.”
Comer cited reports that only a third of federal employees have returned to the office since the pandemic began.
“This is happening in a seemingly random, inexplicable way, with no oversight from the White House or the Office of Personnel Management — whose director couldn’t tell members what proportion of federal employees telecommute when she appeared before the committee in March,” Comer said. . in a statement from Fox news.
“This is unacceptable and the American taxpayer deserves better,” he said.
Without explicitly saying that employees are slacking, the letter asks agency heads to “describe the management protocols your agency has implemented to ensure that employees adhere to the terms of a telecommuting agreement or otherwise fulfill their official duties.”
The effort to force more information about the schemes is not new. Republican Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) sent similar letters in 2021.