{"id":2014384,"date":"2023-08-28T15:03:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T19:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-ernst-asks-why-taxpayers-should-pay-for-unused-office-space-when-most-dc-feds-are-still-working-from-home\/"},"modified":"2023-08-28T15:05:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T19:05:17","slug":"sen-ernst-asks-why-taxpayers-should-pay-for-unused-office-space-when-most-dc-feds-are-still-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-ernst-asks-why-taxpayers-should-pay-for-unused-office-space-when-most-dc-feds-are-still-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ernst questions why taxpayers fund vacant office space while many DC federal employees continue to work remotely."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsen-ernst-asks-why-taxpayers-should-pay-for-unused-office-space-when-most-dc-feds-are-still-working-from-home%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2014384&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Government Office Space \u2062Sitting Empty as Employees Work \u200cfrom Home<\/h2>\n<p>Did you \u2064know that a staggering 75 percent of available office space in federal department and agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., is currently unused? That&#8217;s right\u2014despite costing taxpayers money for maintenance, cleaning,\u200d and climate control, these\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-ernst-asks-why-taxpayers-should-pay-for-unused-office-space-when-most-dc-feds-are-still-working-from-home\/\" title=\"Sen. Ernst questions why taxpayers fund vacant office space while many DC federal employees continue to work remotely.\">empty spaces \u200dremain vacant<\/a> as government employees continue to work from home.<\/p>\n<p>This eye-opening analysis was conducted by the Government\u2063 Accountability Office (GAO) for Congress earlier this year. The report reveals\u200d the significant impact of teleworking on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-repurposing-3-government-buildings-in-capital-into-affordable-housing\/\" title=\"California Repurposing 3 Government Buildings in Capital Into Affordable Housing\">government office space<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alabama-ag-ketanji-brown-jackson-wants-fundamental-redesign-of-criminal-justice-system\/\" title=\"Alabama AG: Ketanji Brown Jackson Wants 'Fundamental Redesign' of Criminal Justice System\">raises important questions<\/a> about the costs and efficiency of this arrangement.<\/p>\n<h3>Sen. Joni Ernst Calls for Accountability<\/h3>\n<p>Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is taking action to\u200b address this issue. She\u200b is urging\u2062 24 Inspectors\u2064 General \u2062(IG) to assess \u200cthe\u2064 costs \u200cof\u200d vacant office space within their\u2063 agencies and determine whether \u2064leases should be canceled\u2063 or space sold off. Additionally, Ernst wants the IGs to investigate the impact of mass teleworking on government response times.<\/p>\n<p>As the IGs are responsible \u200bfor uncovering waste,\u200d fraud, and \u200dabuse in the federal government, their involvement is crucial in holding \u200bthe \u2064government \u2062accountable for the rising costs of teleworking.<\/p>\n<h3>Concerns About Government Efficiency<\/h3>\n<p>Before the COVID-19 pandemic, \u2062teleworking was not widely practiced among federal employees. However, the majority of government\u2063 workers in the Washington area have transitioned to teleworking since the\u200c pandemic began. This shift has raised concerns about the efficiency of government operations.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Ernst points to the costs of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cities-grapple-with-major-changes-three-years-after-pandemic\/\" title=\"Cities grapple with major changes three years after pandemic\">unused office space<\/a> and reports of federal workers \u2062being paid while not performing their duties as evidence of \u200ctaxpayer dollars going to \u2064waste. She highlights instances where calls\u200b to \u200dthe Department of Veterans Affairs, the\u200b State Department,\u200d and the\u200c Social\u200b Security Administration have gone \u2062unanswered or resulted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-of-michigan-demands-1200-for-china-documents\/\" title=\"University of Michigan Demands ,200 for China Documents\">long wait times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s clear that teleworking has both benefits and drawbacks. While it can reduce costs and \u2062provide flexibility, it must\u200b not hinder agencies&#8217; ability to fulfill \u2062their missions \u2064or compromise the\u2062 timely delivery of quality services.<\/p>\n<h3>The Need for Transparency<\/h3>\n<p>Uncovering the full picture of federal teleworking&#8217;s benefits and costs is\u2063 essential. However, obtaining this information \u2064may prove \u200cchallenging. The Biden administration has refused to disclose \u200bthe \u2062work locations \u200dof over 280,000 government\u200c employees, making it difficult\u200d for the Inspectors General to assess the situation accurately.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these \u200cobstacles, Sen. Ernst\u200d remains committed to\u2062 ensuring accountability and transparency. She \u2064has even awarded her August &#8220;Squeal Award&#8221; \u2062to federal employees who refuse to return to work on behalf of taxpayers,\u200b veterans, seniors, and the nation.<\/p>\n<p>As\u200d the debate over teleworking continues, it is crucial to strike a balance between cost savings and maintaining efficient government operations. Only then can we ensure that taxpayer \u2063dollars are being used effectively and that essential services are not \u2062compromised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent analysis conducted for Congress reveals that over 75% of office space in federal department and agency headquarters in the nation&#8217;s capital remains vacant and unused. Despite this, taxpayer money is still being spent on maintenance, cleaning, and climate control. The reason behind this is the significant number of government employees working from home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":2014385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2014384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2014384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2014385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2014384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2014384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2014384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}