As a U.S. citizen, it’s normal to want the federal government to operate in an orderly and efficient manner. It’s what government officials were elected to do. Unfortunately, for the majority of the time this isn’t the case. Many federal workers are too busy either wading through red tape that government bureaucrats have set up, or they’re the ones helping to apply that red tape.

Nonetheless, it’s far past time for something to be done about the federal government constantly accomplishing little to nothing. One U.S. Senator has their eyes set on one way that federal workers can operate more efficiently and effectively, because if nothing is getting accomplished in the federal government, then Americans’ tax dollars are simply going to waste.

Sen. Joni Ernst Targets Remote Work in Federal Government, Calls for Sweeping Reforms

A startling report from Senator Joni Ernst’s office reveals a drastic shift in federal work habits since the pandemic, with just 6% of federal employees who “report in-person on a full-time basis” and nearly one-third working remotely full-time. This marks a dramatic departure from the pre-pandemic norm, when only 3% teleworked daily.

Senator Ernst (R-Iowa), a longtime critic of remote federal work, presented the findings of her 18-month inquiry to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy during their visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday. “The nation’s capital is a ghost town, with government buildings averaging an occupancy rate of 12[%],” Ernst wrote in the report, taking aim at federal employees’ absence from their offices. “If federal employees can’t be found at their desks, exactly where are they?”

President Biden’s work habits also came under fire, with Ernst accusing him of setting a poor example. “President Biden is setting the example. He was out of office 532 days over the last three and a half years, about 40[%] of the time he was expected to be in the Oval Office,” she wrote.

The report, created with input from Open the Books, a nonprofit advocating for government transparency, alleges that the Biden administration redacted “work locations of over 281,000 rank-and-file federal employees.” According to Ernst’s findings, taxpayers are footing an annual $15.7 billion bill for leasing and maintaining federal office buildings — many of which sit largely empty. The report highlights that the government owns approximately 7,697 vacant buildings and 2,265 partially occupied ones, costing an additional $15 million annually to maintain.

Ernst argued this inefficiency directly impacts taxpayers, pointing to constituents’ frustration with unresponsive agencies such as the Social Security Administration and the Food and Drug Administration. The report includes examples of lapses in government performance, including a whistleblower’s warning at the FDA about bacteria in baby formula that went unread for months, culminating in the 2022 nationwide shortage. It also cited a now-infamous Department of Veterans Affairs manager who sparked outrage after posting a photo of himself working while taking a bubble bath.

Federal employees working remotely have also exploited pay policies, Ernst claimed. “My audits are finding as many as 23% to 68% of teleworking employees for some agencies are boosting their salaries by receiving incorrect locality pay,” the report found, citing one case where an employee lived over 2,000 miles from their official worksite but collected higher pay for nearly a decade.

Over 25% of daily federal teleworkers reportedly live more than 50 miles from their offices, a statistic confirmed by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Ernst’s report emphasized that locality pay is meant to reflect the cost of living at an employee’s official worksite, with 58 locality pay zones across the country.

Efforts to rein in remote work have faced resistance from federal employee unions. Last year, the Biden administration directed agencies to “substantially increase meaningful in-person work,” but union leaders pushed back. “The administration’s new guidance on agency work environments does not override collective bargaining agreements,” National Treasury Employees Union president Tony Reardon said at the time, signaling telework policies would largely remain unchanged.

To address these issues, Ernst proposed several reforms, including redistributing federal jobs across the country, adopting a “use it or lose it” policy for federal properties, tying remote work privileges to employee performance, and tracking teleworkers’ locations using virtual private networks.

The timing of Ernst’s report aligns with her new role as chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, which was established to combat government inefficiency and waste. The caucus, named after the nonprofit led by Musk and Ramaswamy, held its inaugural meeting Thursday which coincided with their Capitol visit.

“Taxpayers are getting ripped off,” Ernst concluded, calling for immediate action to restore accountability and efficiency to the federal workforce. And her conclusion couldn’t have hit the nail on the head any harder. The federal government works for the American people and it shouldn’t be a radical idea to ask the best of its employees, especially when taxpayer dollars are on the line.

What are your thoughts on Senator Ernst’s report? Should more federal employees come back to work instead of working remotely? Do you think overall the federal government is efficient? Let us know down in the comments below!