‘Get back to work’: Home watchdog to take over remote government work in first hearing of new Congress
FIRST ON FOX: The House Oversight Committee is holding its first hearing of the new Congress next week focused on the extended remote work in the pandemic era for federal employees, with Chairman James Comer telling Fox News Digital that his priority is getting federal workers back to work.
The hearing called “Stay at home The Federal Workforce: Another Legacy of the Biden-Harris Administration,” to be held on Wednesday, January 15 at 10 a.m.
Martin O’Malleyformer commissioner of the Social Security Administration; Rachel Greszler of the Center for Economic Policy Innovation; and Federal City Council Committee Chairman Tom Davis are set to testify.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, argues the point at the Capitol in Washington, DC (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
O’Malley signed telecommuting contracts for 42,000 Social Security workers through 2029 before his term ends.
“President Donald Trump and his incoming administration will be greeted by largely empty federal government office buildings as the federal workforce is still taking advantage of the Biden administration’s outdated and harmful pandemic-era telecommuting policies,” Comer told Fox News Digital. “Not only do these telecommuting policies threaten agencies’ ability to provide vital services to the American people, but reports show the Biden administration is now working with federal employee unions to strengthen long-term telecommuting guarantees.”
Comer told Fox News Digital that “President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda and critical services provided by the federal government should not be hindered or prevented because of out-of-control federal labor unions making deals with the Biden administration to stay home.”
Light from sunrise hits the dome of the US Capitol on Thursday, January 2, 2025, as the 119th Congress begins. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
LARGEST NATIONAL UNION FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES REbukes GOP EFFORTS TO END REMOTE WORK
“It’s past time for the federal workforce to get back to working for the American people in person,” he said. “The House Oversight Committee remains committed to ensuring that federal employees show up for the American people they serve.”
According to a Senate report authored by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the federal government currently owns more than 7,000 vacant buildings and nearly 2,500 buildings that are partially vacant.
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The report states that government buildings currently have an average occupancy rate of 12%.
During the hearing, the committee plans to examine how the Biden-Harris administration “failed to bring federal workers back to the office,” and said that failure could “hinder” the new Trump administration’s ability to bring them back, because of long-term telecommuting guarantees in contracts signed with federal employee unions.
