Federal employee workers based in the Washington D.C. region are being targeted by Ernst through a series of three legislative attempts
Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, has proposed three bills aimed at reducing the influence of Washington, D.C. area federal employees. The proposed legislation, which includes the Strategic Withdrawal of Agencies for Meaningful Placement Act (S. 22), the DRAIN THE SWAMP-Act (S. 23), and the Requiring Effective Management and Oversight of Teleworking Employees Act (S. 21), have not been passed into law as of the time of this article.
The Strategic Withdrawal of Agencies for Meaningful Placement Act requires non-national security agencies to relocate 30% of their headquarters staff outside of the D.C. area within one year of enactment. It also bars agencies from undertaking renovations or renewing the leases of their D.C.-area headquarters. The DRAIN THE SWAMP-Act, on the other hand, mandates a 30% reduction in physical footprint for agencies in Washington, D.C. and does not allow agencies to offer relocation incentives to staff they direct to leave the D.C. area.
In recent years, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced plans to relocate part of its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Oklahoma City, and the U.S. Census Bureau planned to move some functions to Jeffersonville, Indiana. These moves, along with Ernst's claims that the federal workforce has shown they don't want to work in D.C., have been cited as reasons for the proposed bills.
However, it's important to note that roughly half of the federal workforce is ineligible for workplace flexibility due to the non-portability of their work. Moreover, 85% of the federal workforce already lives and works outside of the D.C. area.
The Requiring Effective Management and Oversight of Teleworking Employees Act, meanwhile, requires agencies to monitor the login data and network traffic of teleworking federal workers to ensure they are working while outside of traditional work sites. This is despite federal HR leaders testifying that they already have systems in place to track teleworking federal workers' attendance and productivity.
The proposed bills do not specify penalties for non-compliance with their requirements. Ernst, in a press release, stated that she is working to "disrupt the business-as-usual bureaucrats who spent the last four years out of office." However, her inaccurate report on federal telework has been criticised in the press.
Those who do telework still spend 60% of their work hours in-person at federal facilities. The impact of these proposed bills on federal employees and the efficiency of federal operations remains to be seen if they are passed into law.
