House Republicans Challenge Biden Administration’s Remote Work Policies

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) questions witnesses during the first public hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 8, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

House Republicans sent letters to 25 Biden administration agencies on May 18, calling for accountability on their “unacceptable” telework programs.

House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), Government Operations and Federal Workforce subcommittee chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas), and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), requested information from the agencies about their current remote policies, and alerting them to the committee’s intention to conduct oversight into continued allowances for remote work past the end of the pandemic.

“Hard-working Americans across this country show up to work every day and the federal government workforce—[that] their taxes fund—must follow their lead.

“Even though the pandemic is over, the Biden administration is allowing telework levels far above those that existed pre-pandemic,” Comer said in an Oversight Committee press release.

In the letters, the lawmakers note that the Biden administration “has allowed agencies to continue levels of telework and remote work that are significantly higher than before the pandemic” without providing “current data about the specific amount of telework occurring within federal agencies or across the entire federal workforce.”

“Furthermore, it has provided no objective evidence concerning the impact of elevated telework on agency performance—including any deleterious impacts,” the lawmakers wrote.

In an effort to carry out their oversight duties, the Republicans asked for information about the level of telework taking place within the agencies, how they’re tracking remote work’s impact on performance, and what the effect has been.

“The COVID emergency is over—and most Americans have been back to work for many years,” Sessions said. “Taxpayers expect the same from public servants, but telework policies and outcomes are unclear across the federal government.”

Boebert said she has “heard from countless constituents who did not get their tax returns back on time, who did not get their passports in a timely manner, and who did not get benefits from Veterans Affairs (VA) because federal employees were teleworking.”

“The House Oversight and Accountability Committee and I are demanding transparency from federal agencies on their secretive telework policies so that the American people know what exactly their tax dollars are funding and how their public servants are serving them.”

In addition to the three authors, other Republicans from the House Oversight Committee signed the letters, including Reps. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.).

The lawmakers sent the letters to the heads of federal agencies and departments, including Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Administrator Bill Nelson of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“This is unacceptable and U.S. taxpayers deserve better,” Comer said.

“Federal workers must show up to work in-person and the Oversight Committee will hold agencies accountable when their employees do not show up to work for the American people.”

Multiple agencies have responded to The Epoch Times’s requests saying they cannot comment on the correspondence, or will respond to Congress directly.