WASHINGTON - After unveiling a detailed report showing how federal bureaucrats have abused telework and locality pay to fleece taxpayers out of billions of dollars, Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, introduced legislation to start getting Washington back to work.

The REMOTE Act will require agencies to use software to gather concrete data on the adverse impacts of telework in the federal government by monitoring bureaucrats' computer use, requiring agency reports, and providing key information for individual performance reviews.

"The bureaucrat class was given an inch during COVID with 'temporary' telework, and they have taken a mile at the expense of taxpayers," said Ernst. "Holding Washington accountable starts with ensuring federal employees aren't 'working' from bubble baths or the golf course on the taxpayer's dime. It's past time to transform government agencies, so our veterans, seniors, and all Americans receive high-quality care and customer service."

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.

In December 2024, Ernst 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.

Senator Ernst's telework report exposed a chronically absent federal workforce and laid out a detailed and simple solution to make telework work for taxpayers.

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