Government “Workers?”
Senator Joni Ernst’s office found just 6% of the federal workforce “report in-person on a full-time basis” while almost one-third of federal workers are remote on a full-time basis, in a sharp turn-around from 2020 when the only 3% teleworked daily. Senator Ernst who has long crusaded against the rise in remote work, revealed the fruits of her office’s year and a half inquiry to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy during their visit to the Capitol Thursday. Sen. Joni Ernst’s office had been investigating the federal government’s telework protocols for the past year and a half. “The nation’s capital is a ghost town, with government buildings averaging an occupancy rate of 12%” Ernst wrote in the blistering report. “If federal employees can’t be found at their desks, exactly where are they? If you exclude security guards & maintenance personnel, the number of government workers who show up in person and do 40 hours of work a week is closer to 1%!” he wrote on his X platform. “Almost no one.”
The senator’s investigation found that not a single government agency was occupying half of its office space. Her office collaborated with Open the Books, a nonprofit group that advocates for government transparency for taxpayers and claims that the Biden administration redacted the “work locations of over 281,000 rank-and-file federal employees.” Leasing and maintenance costs for federal office buildings as well as the tab to keep them running is about $15.7 billion annually for empty buildings, according to her report. Meanwhile, the government has ownership of about 7,697 vacant buildings and 2,265 that are somewhat empty, costing about $15 million for leasing and maintenance of underutilized space, according to her report.
Even more worser, not only are people not showing up for work, they are giving themselves pay raises to not work. The government sets the base pay of employees to match the cost of living in various areas of the country. Amazingly, the people who are not working in the office have been moving to the highest coat of living areas of the country. After all the computer and the cellphone can be anywhere or at least seem to be. More than money, the result has been thousands of complaints from citizens (who are paying the bill) of no response from many federal government offices and departments.
Working while remotely funny
Working from home – day 6:
Client: “No! This is unacceptable. I want to speak to one of your superiors.”
Me: “Mom?!”
Government Briefing:
Joe Biden had a meeting with the cabinet today…
…He also spoke to the bookcase and argued with the desk.
In Soviet Russia, the government regulates the pharmaceutical industry.
In America, the pharmaceutical industry regulates the government.
I’m starting to hate the U.S. government
The NSA appears to be the only department which listens.
It is getting harder and harder to support the government in the style to which it has become accustomed.
December 11th Birthdays
1997 – Halle Steinfeld, 1991 – Alexa Demie, 1986 – Karla Souza, 1947 – Terry Garr
1918 – Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 1939 – David Gates, 1980 – Rider Strong