FOX FIRST: The House Oversight Committee will hold its first hearing of the new Congress next week focused on federal employees’ long-term work from home during the pandemic, Chairman James Comer told FOX News Digital. , said getting federal employees back to work is a priority.
The hearing, titled “Working from Home for Federal Workers: Another Legacy of the Biden-Harris Administration,” is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 10 a.m.
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Martin O’Malley, former head of the Social Security Administration. Rachel Gressler of the Center for Economic Policy Innovation. Tom Davis, chairman of the U.S. City Council, is scheduled to testify.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, makes his points at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Before the end of his term, O’Malley signed work-from-home agreements for 42,000 Social Security workers through 2029.
“President Donald Trump and his incoming administration will be greeted by mostly empty federal buildings as federal employees still take advantage of the Biden administration’s outdated and harmful pandemic-era telework policies. ”Comer told FOX News Digital. “These telework policies not only jeopardize the ability of government agencies to provide critical services to the American people, but the Biden administration is now working with federal employee unions to strengthen long-term guarantees for telework. There are also reports that
Comer told Fox News Digital that President-elect Donald Trump’s “policies and critical services provided by the federal government are being hindered by unchecked federal unions that have entered into stay-at-home agreements with the Biden administration.” It must not be hindered.”
Sunrise light shines on the dome of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, January 2, 2025, as the 119th Congress begins. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
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“It is past time for federal employees to return to work directly on behalf of the American people,” he said. “The House Oversight Committee remains committed to ensuring that federal employees serve the American people.”
The federal government currently owns more than 7,000 vacant buildings and nearly 2,500 partially vacant buildings, according to a Senate report authored by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
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According to the report, the average occupancy rate for government buildings is currently 12%.
During the hearing, the committee will examine how the Biden-Harris administration “failed to bring federal employees back to work,” and if it fails, it will threaten the incoming Trump administration’s ability to bring federal employees back to work due to long-term guarantees. He said it could be “impeded.” Promotion of telework in agreements entered into with federal employee unions.
Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.
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