Federal bureaucrats cost taxpayers billions by shirking office responsibilities, including reports of employees working remotely, attending “beach” meetings and “relaxing in bubble baths,” in accordance with a year-long investigation by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa , revealed at the inaugural Senate DOGE Caucus meeting with Tesla CEO and owner X Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy – each received assignments from President-elect Donald Trump will head the Department of Government Effectiveness.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) is making waves today with the primary Senate DOGE Caucus hearing, which revealed her scathing report on federal government inefficiencies and the abuse of telework.
The report, a part of her ongoing campaign against bureaucratic waste, highlights how federal staff neglect their duties while taxpayers foot the bill for empty office buildings and unsupervised distant work.
“The bureaucrats are playing hide and seek,” Ernst said.
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Senator Ernst emphasized the urgent need to revive accountability in federal agencies.
“For years I tracked bureaucrats relaxing in bubble baths, playing golf, getting arrested, and doing almost everything except their job,” she said. “It would be almost laughable if it weren’t at taxpayer expense and at the expense of veterans, seniors, small business owners and Americans who need competent service from government agencies.”
“Federal employees must return to work, but if they don’t want to, I will honor their wishes,” she added.
Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), headed by outstanding entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, goals holding federal staff accountable, cutting unnecessary spending, and streamlining federal operations by reducing waste, reducing red tape, and cutting regulations under Trump’s Save America program.
Ernst’s investigation, spanning a 12 months and a half, uncovers startling statistics:
- Federal telework has increased from 3% pre-pandemic to almost 30% of employees now working completely remotely.
- Office space utilization in Washington, D.C. averages just 12%, and billions are spent annually on maintenance, energy and unused furniture.
- Public services are suffering as veterans’ calls for mental health care go unanswered and crucial warnings concerning the safety of infant formula are delayed attributable to staffing gaps.
The findings highlight cases of payroll fraud by which teleworkers claim inflated local wages because they live removed from their assigned offices. Ernst discovered that some staff were logging in from greater than 3,000 km away, collecting higher wages intended for staff in dearer regions.
The Iowa senator has proposed several measures to reform the bloated federal bureaucracy that burdens taxpayers:
- Relocating federal offices to areas higher suited to their mission, reducing costs and increasing accountability.
- Sale of unused office space, including over 7,000 vacant government buildings.
- Implementing stricter telework policies, tracking worker performance and location using modern tools reminiscent of VPN login and office opening.
- Ensuring that telework arrangements put the needs of taxpayers ahead of the convenience of presidency staff.
Senator Ernst has long advocated for reducing federal waste while ensuring government accountability.
Last 12 months she he insisted moving taxpayer-funded government buildings out of President Joe Biden’s “DC swamp” and into the “heartland” — where they will be “more accountable to hard-working Americans.”
Its Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed that almost all federal offices are largely empty attributable to widespread telework amongst federal employees.
She too successfully introduced an amendment to the law reducing the remuneration of bureaucrats based on the scope of their telework and distant workplace. In early September, she also requested an examination of the impact of distant work on productivity.
Previously she announced a package of reforms aimed at holding “entrenched federal bureaucracy” accountable, “draining the swamp” and “cutting red tape.”
The package of solutions includes bringing the decision-making process “to the American people and max[ing] a government that responds to the real needs of Americans” through Swamp Act Spresented.
By support for stopping the unproductive problems related to working in a house office (Show up) Act, also seeks to require federal officials to “remote work” at taxpayer expense to “show up for work.” demanding investigation into their “abuse” of “remote working”.
So serious called to shut Nancy Pelosi’s recently renovated federal constructing in Democrat-run San Francisco, citing serious public safety concerns stemming from rising crime and drug activity in the world and describing the “haunted house” as a “far-left failure” and a “symbol” of presidency dysfunction .
The unsafe conditions, highlighted by an alarming variety of overdoses and violent incidents near the power, prompted the Department of Health and Human Services to advise employees not to come back to the office.
With recent elections delivering a Republican majority, she is now calling on the incoming Republican-controlled Congress to prioritize and pass her proposed laws to eliminate waste, reduce bureaucracy and hold federal agencies accountable.