Washington, DC — The US Senate has approved a proposal offered by Iowa Senator Joni Ernst that would require several federal agencies to tell congress how many employees are working remotely.
The reports would be required for the entire Department of Veterans Affairs.
An Atlanta TV station and the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper report a whistleblower says calls from veterans seeking mental health counseling at the Atlanta VA were not being answered last year.
The Senate unanimously attached Ernst’s amendment to a budget bill earlier this week.
Ernst asked during remarks on the Senate floor. The report about federal employees’ remote work that Ernst proposes would cover other agencies, too, including the DOT, USDA, FDA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as Defense Department agencies involved in military construction.
In August, President Biden’s chief of staff sent agency administrators a memo, saying they should aggressively get employees back to work in federal offices this fall. An analysis early this year found a majority of the office space in federal buildings was unoccupied.
