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Ernst Unveils Naughty List of No-Show Federal Agencies

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December 6th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Washington, D-C) – The office of Iowa Republican U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, from Red Oak, Tuesday, says the Senator has exposed that, almost four years after COVID-19 temporarily closed federal buildings, not a single government agency is occupying even half their office space and called on Biden’s bureaucrats to deck the agency halls with federal workers or sell off unused facilities.

As taxpayers are picking up the cost of vacant offices, Ernst unveiled a naughty list of these no-show federal agencies topped by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Social Security Administration, both of which are using just 7% of their space.

In August, Ernst demanded investigations into 24 federal departments and agencies to determine the impact of telework on the delivery and response times of services. Following her advocacy, the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Inspector General responded to her request and is currently considering an audit to examine whether GSA has appropriately evaluated its physical space needs and utilization. A few months later, the GSA announced it would downsize 3.5 million square feet of federal buildings, which would save taxpayers over $1 billion.

Ernst also increased accountability for federal telework abuse by passing an amendment to hold the Biden administration accountable for the cost to taxpayers and the impact on services from continued remote work by Washington bureaucrats.