Ernst Blasts Biden’s Gift to Bah Humbug Bureaucrats

WASHNGTON – In response to public employee unions rushing to lock in telework agreements through 2029 at the 11^th hour of the Biden administration, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) demanded the heads of 24 federal agencies immediately suspend all negotiations of telework privileges.

After her report exposed that 90% of federal employees are eligible to telework, Senate DOGE Caucus Chair Ernst additionally requested the agency heads provide the amount of tax dollars being spent paying government employees to negotiate more telework, which was last calculated at $150 million in 2019.

“The union bosses are rushing to lock in last minute, lavish long-term deals with the lame duck Biden administration—extending beyond President Trump’s next term in office—guaranteeing that bureaucrats can stay at home for another four years… or longer! Apparently, protecting telework perks for public employees is a higher priority than showing up to serve American taxpayers,” wrote Ernst.

“These sweetheart deals need to stop immediately. I am calling on you to stop all collective bargaining or any other contractual arrangements related to telework for federal employees extending beyond the few weeks remaining in the Biden administration. Giving bureaucrats another four-year vacation from the office is unacceptable. Bureaucrats have had enough gap years—it’s time to get them back to work,” continued Ernst.

For attempting to secure another four-year staycation away from the office for federal employees, Senator Ernst is giving her December 2024 Squeal Award to government employee union bosses. She exposes waste, fraud, and abuse in her monthly award as part of her promise to make Washington “squeal.”

Click here to read the letters to federal agencies and here to read Senator Ernst’s Squeal Award.

Background:

In August 2023, Ernst demanded investigations into 24 federal departments and agencies to determine the impact of telework on the delivery and response times of services. Following her advocacy, the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Inspector General responded to Ernst’s request and is currently considering an audit to examine whether GSA has appropriately evaluated its physical space needs and utilization. A few months later, the GSA announced it would downsize 3.5 million square feet of federal buildings, which would save taxpayers over $1 billion.

In December 2024, she exposed that, almost four years after COVID-19 temporarily closed federal buildings, not a single government agency is occupying even half their office space and called on Biden’s bureaucrats to deck the agency halls with federal workers or sell off unused facilities.

Last week, Senator Ernst, the incoming chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, introduced the Returning SBA to Main Street Act, which relocates more than a third of Small Business Administration employees outside of D.C.

Yesterday, she introduced the DRAIN THE SWAMP Act, which relocates at least 30% of Washington’s federal workforce, requires the rest of the employees to show up to the office 100% of the time, and facilitates the sale of excess office space.

In March 2024, Ernst introduced the Taxpayer-Funded Union Time Transparency Act, which tracks the total amount taxpayers are subsidizing federal employee unions. This effort requires each federal agency to produce and publicly post an annual report documenting the cost billed to taxpayers for union activities and the amount of time spent by federal employees working on behalf of themselves, instead of the hardworking Americans paying their salaries.

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