Elon and Vivek's DOGE Leaves 94% of Fed Workers in Deep Trouble, Plan Takes Effect
A Republican senator has introduced a bill aimed at giving the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency a head start in improving federal operations.
Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, has proposed the REMOTE Act, a measure designed to monitor bureaucrats’ computer use and require federal agencies to assess the downsides of telework, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
The bill mandates that agencies review the productivity of remote federal employees, tracking metrics such as the “average number of logins made” and the time spent on the federal network.
“The American people gave us a mandate to shake up business as usual in Washington and drain the swamp. That starts with getting the bureaucrat class to climb out of the bubble bath, put away the golf clubs, and get back to work,” Ernst said, as reported by Politico.
As chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, Ernst has pitched her ideas to figures like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Fox News reported.
A central focus of Ernst’s plan is to reduce the number of federal employees who rarely work from their offices.
In a report she recently released, Ernst highlighted instances of federal workers abusing telework privileges, noting some were “found in a bubble bath, on the golf course, running their own business, and even getting busted doing crime while on taxpayers’ time.”
The report detailed changes in telework since the pandemic. “Just 3 percent of the federal workforce teleworked daily prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, 6 percent of workers report in-person on a full-time basis, while nearly one-third are entirely remote,” it said.
“Most federal employees are eligible to telework and 90 percent of those are. Some come to the office as infrequently as once a week,” the report continued.
The document cited specific cases of abuse, such as a senior IRS employee who spent nearly a decade golfing during work hours while working remotely and a federal worker who participated in a remote meeting while taking a bubble bath.
Ernst pointed out that remote work policies were largely adopted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Washington is still operating as if it’s March 2020. The headquarters of most agencies remain largely abandoned. Government employees are scattered and often unreachable,” her report stated.
“The failure of managers to set the right example and properly monitor teleworkers creates an ‘anything goes’ attitude with other employees,” the report added.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development was specifically noted, with over 90 percent of its employees working remotely, often required to be in the office only once a week.
The report also alleged that some federal workers misrepresented their work locations to claim higher pay, despite working from areas where salaries should be lower under federal guidelines.
Ernst emphasized that ensuring productivity among remote workers is crucial. “The solution requires proof that employees working from home are productive. If not, they should be brought back to the office,” she wrote.