House GOP lawmakers have questioned whether agencies are withholding information on telework from Congress, and suggested they may consider compulsory processes to obtain it. Image: Honza Hruby/Shutterstock.com
The Biden administration’s latest directive to federal agencies to increase onsite work by their employees comes as House Republicans have renewed their efforts for information on agency rates of telework and the impact on productivity.
That pressure has been a constant for several years but increased once Republicans gained control of the House in last fall’s elections. In the latest move, GOP leaders of the Oversight and Accountability Committee this week renewed requests for information they had sent in May, saying they are dissatisfied with the responses.
“The Biden administration has allowed agencies to continue levels of telework and remote work that are significantly higher than before the pandemic. However, the administration has not provided current data about the specific amount of telework occurring within federal agencies or across the entire federal workforce and has provided no objective evidence concerning the impact of elevated telework on agency performance,” said a statement from chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and several other committee Republicans.
In similar letters to four dozen departments and agencies, they said “we have not received information responsive to our request, raising concerns that your agency is intentionally withholding this information from Congress or is not tracking it as required by law . . . Central to this issue is the concern that agencies—and certainly the Office of Personnel Management—do not know how many employees are teleworking or working remotely, or how often they do so.”
They said that if the agencies do not respond fully by next Friday, “we will be forced to consider compulsory processes to obtain the information necessary to perform appropriate oversight over the Biden administration’s telework and remote work policies.” That could be done, for example, through language in agency spending bills for the fiscal year that starts October 1.
The earlier letters followed a hearing at which Republicans repeatedly pressed OPM director Kiran Ahuja for data on telework rates, which she was unable to provide.
The House twice has passed language, once as a stand-alone bill and once as an add-on to the general government appropriations bill, to require agencies to return to pre-pandemic policies and only increase telework if they can make a business case for it.
That spending bill and several others already include language requiring more disclosure of the impact of telework on agency operations by certain agencies funded by each bill. While that has been mainly a House initiative, the Senate included similar language in its spending bill for DHS, as well as for several other agencies.
A House committee also recently held a hearing highlighting a GAO report finding that many agency headquarters buildings in the national capital area are mostly vacant most of the time. And the general government spending bill of both chambers calls on GSA to reassess the government’s long-term office space needs with and the potential savings from consolidating.
Large Share of Federal Workforce about to Experience a Payless Pay Period
OPM Details Coverage Changes, Plan Dropouts for FEHB/PSHB in 2026
OMB Says Federal Workforce RIFs are Starting as Shutdown Drags On
Financial Impact of Shutdown Starts to Hit Home; WH Threatens No Back Pay
Surge of Retirement Applications Is in the Pipeline, Says OPM
See also,
TSP Takes Step toward Upcoming In-Plan Roth Conversions
5 Steps to Protect Your Federal Job During the Shutdown
Over 30K TSP Accounts Have Crossed the Million Mark in 2025
The Best Ages for Federal Employees to Retire