We've been covering the crusade of Sen. Joni "Real Estate" Ernst, R-Iowa, to jolt federal employees out of their naps and return to their offices.
Telework is a typical perk granted to federal employees.
Paycheck collectors stay at home and pretend to work.
It’s a great deal for the left-adherent voting base and a bad bargain for conservatives and taxpayers.
We've written about it here and here.
The Washington Times called attention to Ernst’s quest. "[she] is calling on agencies to take a hard look at who they are still allowing to telework at this late stage of the pandemic, figure out if it makes sense to keep them at home, and if so, make sure taxpayers aren’t paying for their office space anymore."
Then Times confirmed all our productivity suspicions, "And it’s unclear that employees who are working from home are actually working. A review last year of one department’s logins found as many as 30% of remote employees 'did not appear to be working at any given time during the work day.'
"One survey last fall of access key cards to federal buildings in the District of Columbia found just 5% of the pre-pandemic workforce swiped in on an average workday."
Surprisingly the senator had a little success.
"Following U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s, R-Iowa, continuous advocacy and demands for accountability for wasted taxpayer dollars due to federal 'telework' policies, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced it would downsize 3.5 million square feet of federal buildings, which will save taxpayers over $1 billion."
We weren’t being harsh when we said little success.
Here’s why: Doing the math, eliminating 23 buildings only represents two one-hundredths of a percent of total federal office space, but we suppose it’s a start.
Now the comb-over conservatives in the House want to get in on the act.
The Washington Times again, "Irked by reports that federal office buildings sometimes operate at less than 10 percent capacity, the House on Tuesday approved a use-it-or-lose-it policy, ordering agencies to either get employees back at desks in their office buildings or give up the space.
"The legislation would require an average 60% use rate for government buildings and would direct agencies to consolidate their offices to reach that level. Republicans said the bill would goose the government from its extended pandemic emergency haze."
And just so the federal drones wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking House Republicans were those meanies, "Republicans said they weren’t objecting to where employees wanted to work but didn’t want taxpayers picking up the bill for vacant offices."
Why it’s just a real estate utilization problem.
This makes the bill another exercise in totally missing the point.
Even if this bill was successful, 40% of the federal "workers" would still be at home loafing on the taxpayer dime. And those efficiency experts in the House missed the fact that 40% of the office space would still be wasted!
What’s worse is federal workers are Biden’s base not the GOP base.
The GOP base is the one paying the Biden voters.
Offending federal workers won’t hurt Republicans, because those feds are already voting as a block for leftists.
And even at their angriest they can only vote once. Hmm, on second thought. . .
What the House should have insisted on was 100% of the employees returning and those who refused would be fired.
At the worst taxpayers would start getting some of their money’s worth from these productivity demons who had been snoozing at home.
And at best, by firing the refuseniks, taxpayers save money on personnel and office leases; and even shrink the size of government just a bit.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now With Added Humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.