Senators want to get taxpayers 'off the hook' for paying for absent Biden bureaucrats: New bipartisan bill requires federal telework policies to be more transparent to avoid wasting over $5 billion on empty offices

Senators plan to hold President Biden accountable on his administration's federal telework policies after scathing reports show most government agency headquarters are mostly empty. 

The bipartisan bill will require federal agencies to publicly share their telework policies and better track employees working from home. It will require audits and performance reviews of of remote workers as well.

Senators say the bill will also crack down on locality pay - compensation based on a worker's location within the U.S. - to make sure it's not being abused.

The bill comes after a bombshell report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that no federal agency had over 50 percent occupancy between January and March 2023.  

That's a staggering statistic when considering how federal agencies spend about $2 billion annually to operate and maintain federal office buildings - and over $5 billion yearly in leases. 

Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced the ‘Telework Transparency Act of 2024’ on Wednesday. 

'For too long, Americans have been on hold while bureaucrats phone it in,' Ernst said in a statement to DailyMail.com in announcing the bill. 

Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced the telework transparency bill to better track federal remote worker data in and to better inform decisions on how they spend taxpayer dollars

Ernst previously revealed in Decemver that not a single federal agency had over 50 percent office space utilization between January and March 2023

'Since ‘temporary’ telework policies went into effect over four years ago, the remote lifestyle comes at the expense of the people federal agencies are meant to serve.'

'My bipartisan bill will provide full transparency into the inefficiencies of telework, so taxpayers are no longer on the hook for expensive wasted space at federal headquarters and misspent locality pay.'

The lawmakers say the bill will create more accountability for federal agencies and could end up saving taxpayers billions. 

If passed, it would require periodic audits for federal agencies to understand if employees are working from the locality they are supposed to. 

Wages can often differ vastly on locality pay. For example individuals working in St. Louis would get a much smaller locality allocation for those living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where costs are generally higher. 

It would also create new standards to monitor teleworkers effectiveness, 'including customer service, backlogs and wait times, cost to operations, security, management of property, technology investments, and recruitment and retention,' according to the release. 

Some agencies, though, are worse than others when it comes to working from home. 

Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Social Security Administration and the Small Business Administration (SBA) all had 10 percent utilization or less.

And more lawmakers are taking notice. 

Committee on Small Business Chair Roger Williams, R-Texas, wrote a letter to SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman recently demanding answers for why the office 'is operating at a mere 10 percent capacity.'

The Small Business Administration headquarters is operating at 10 percent of capacity as many federal workers enjoy lavish telework policies

'The SBA is tasked with one purpose – to help Main Street,' Williams said.

'It’s difficult to do that effectively when you’re working from home and are more focused on making sure your laundry is washed and folded rather than ensuring the needs of our entrepreneurs are met.'

The Republican expressed concern over the agency's request for $42 million allocation for rent despite the headquarters being void of employees.