My report exposes rampant telework abuse in Washington and around the country.@DOGE and I will be giving bureaucrats a simple choice – get back to work or be fired. #MakeEmSqueal pic.twitter.com/DfwlT2w3HR
The SWAMP Act would move the headquarters of multiple government agencies outside of Washington, D.C., with exceptions for fewer than ten agencies, most involved in national security or foreign policy.
In another case cited by Ernst, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employee received locality pay for the Washington, D.C., area despite living full-time in Florida. The employee in question retired before the conclusion of the probe, according to a summary posted on the USAID inspector general’s site on April 30.
Previous investigations by Ernst into federal employees’ telecommuting detailed issues that remote work created, such as locality pay, an adjustment to the basic pay of civilian employees in the federal government intended to make sure that federal employees have comparable compensation to private-sector counterparts in a given area of the country.
The REMOTE Act addresses issues with government employee telework, which Ernst previously identified in a 60-page report published Dec. 5. Ernst, in August 2023, sent letters to 24 agencies regarding remote work abuses and cited one report revealing that a Department of Veterans Affairs employee attended a staff meeting while taking a bubble bath, and another which found that a government employee went “golfing on the taxpayer’s dime.” (RELATED: Joni Ernst Releases Scathing Report About Federal Telework As Musk, Ramaswamy Visit Capitol)
Time to trim $2 trillion in excess waste with @DOGE.
The DRAIN THE SWAMP Act requires most government agencies to “promote geographic diversity, including consideration of rural markets” when relocating employees from the D.C. area and to “ensure adequate staffing throughout the regions of the Administration, to promote in-person customer service.” Exceptions are made for fewer than ten agencies, most involved in national security, like the Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy.
President-elect Donald Trump recently said that remote federal employees who do not want to return to the office will be “dismissed” in his upcoming administration. The newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy also promised to pursue a mandatory return-to-office policy across the federal government.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) January 2, 2025
