In its first hearing in the new 119th Congress, the House Oversight Committee plans to address the issue of widespread telework still being utilized by government employees, long after the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic has ended.
As Fox News reports, the hearing titled “Stay-at-Home Federal Workforce: Another Biden-Harris Administration Legacy,” is scheduled for next Wednesday, January 15th. Among those set to testify are former Social Security Administration commissioner Martin O’Malley, the Economic Policy Innovation Center’s Rachel Greszler, and Federal City Council board president Tom Davis.
During his tenure at SSA, O’Malley secured telework agreements for over 42,000 Social Security employees, with the contracts set to last until 2029.
“President Donald Trump and his incoming Administration is set to be greeted by largely vacant federal government office buildings because the federal workforce is still taking advantage of the Biden Administration’s outdated and detrimental pandemic-era telework policies,” said committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) in an interview after the hearing was announced. “Not only do these telework policies jeopardize the ability of agencies to deliver vital services to the American people, but reports indicate the Biden Administration is now working with federal employee unions to cement long-term guarantees of telework.”
“It’s past time for the federal workforce to get back to work in-person for the American people,” Comer added. “The House Oversight Committee remains committed to ensuring federal employees show up for the American people they serve.”
Even though the coronavirus pandemic ended in 2022, most federal government employees refuse to return to their offices for work. A report by Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) claims that the federal government owns as many as 7,000 empty buildings, as well as 2,500 partially empty buildings. The rate of occupancy for government buildings is currently a mere 12%.
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