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Biden's plan is to keep federal workers working from home and 'happy at all costs' so they'll vote for him says James Comer: 'It's all crap'
Joe Biden has been accused of allowing federal employees across the nation work from home so they will vote for him, according to the chair of the powerful Oversight Chair.
James Comer said federal offices across the American continue to sit empty four years on from Covid-19 with no structures from post-pandemic work schedules.
An government-wide survey conducted at the end of the year found 68% of 625,568 staff worked three or four days from home.
Comer's committee has been trying to get clarity from the Biden administration on how many federal employees are working from home as Americans continue to get on the phone to agencies such as the Social Security or Veterans' Affairs.
'Biden's main objective with the federal workforce, in my opinion is to to keep them happy at all costs so they'll go vote for him,' Comer told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.
He said the Biden administration refuses to hand over figures on what percentage of the federal workforce are teleworking and how many days a week employees are coming to the office.
'It's all crap. Every caseworker here whether they're Democrat or Republican, every office we have caseworkers, they will all tell you it is impossible to get someone on the phone now in any governance, push Social Security, whether it's the VA you know, trying to get passport, it doesn't matter,' Comer went on.
Comer's committee has been trying to get clarity from the Biden administration on how many federal employees are working from home as Americans struggle to get agencies - Social Security Administration, Veterans' Affairs and the like - on the phone
The chairman said he isn't against remote work on principal. If the Biden administration showed them data proving it is more efficient for taxpayers to have federal workers working from their homes, he would support it, he says.
'They have no data to tell whether or not it's more efficient, and I can tell you it's not,' Comer said. 'But if it is more efficient, then I think we should liquidate a lot of these federal buildings. D.C. could turn them into affordable housing or whatever.
'We found in our investigation that some buildings are as low as 8% occupied. os we can we can consolidate workers into buildings and liquidate buildings and save on utility bills - that's greener - save on on repairs and maintenance and things like that. But this administration doesn't want to do anything. All they want to do is spend more money and and attack Donald Trump.'
In the spring Comer hauled in Office of Management and Budget deputy director Jason Miller to testify about remote work policies.
Miller claimed that federal workers who are 'telework eligible,' meaning they have jobs that can be done remotely in some capacity, are currently working at least half of their hours in the office.
The federal government employs some two million people in Washington, D.C. The government spends about $2 billion per year operating federal offices buildings and another $5 billion on leases.
'OMB will continue to push agencies to complete implementation,' Miller said. The agency 'has issued guidance for agencies to substantially increase meaningful in person work at federal offices, particularly at headquarters.'
Late last year Biden's Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients ordered Cabinet heads to ensure that their workforce returns to the office this year.
According to a memo obtained by DailyMail.com, he wrote that federal employees should be in the office at least 50 percent of their work time in order to achieve the goals of the administration.
Zients highlighted the State Department's 'expectation' that all employees are in the office at least 3-4 times per week because there's 'no substitute' for 'engaging face-to-face' when it comes to diplomacy.
But he also acknowledged that 'some of your agencies are not where they need to be.'
Comer said the Biden administration refuses to hand over figures on what percentage of the federal workforce are teleworking and how many days a week employees are coming to the office
'It's all crap. Every caseworker here whether they're Democrat or Republican, every office we have caseworkers, they will all tell you it is impossible to get someone on the phone now in any governance, push Social Security, whether it's the VA you know, trying to get passport, it doesn't matter,' Comer went on
In February a USDA whistleblower wrote to Congress warning of the 'impersonal and inefficient' work environment remote work was causing.
The employee, who describes themself as a supervisor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, says full-time remote work and telework is 'negatively affecting productivity, efficiency, and cooperation.'
They said that the 'vast majority' of USDA employees are working remotely, and the unused federal office headquarters resembles a 'ghost town' with empty hallways and vacant offices.
The USDA was found to be at only 11 percent occupied between January and March 2023 and more than 75 percent of the available office space at 17 different federal agencies is still empty, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).