Marsha Blackburn wants federal workers to ‘show up’ as remote work policies remain post-pandemic

EXCLUSIVE — Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is looking to force federal workers to come back to work after agencies allowed for flexible remote schedules during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People are not showing up to work,” she told the Washington Examiner.

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Now that President Joe Biden signed a bill in April ending the COVID-19 national emergency and the pandemic-era Title 42 border policy ended last week, Blackburn said she thinks it is past time to bring federal workers back to the office.

“Right now, not only can our Tennesseans not get answers from some of these agencies, we ourselves, as we’re trying to get information from the agencies, cannot get information,” she said.

Last week, Blackburn led several of her Republican colleagues in introducing the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems, or SHOW UP, Act. The measure, if passed and signed, would force federal agencies to revert back to their pre-pandemic remote work policies.

Further, the bill would require federal agencies to conduct studies on how their telework policies affected job performance and customer service over the last three years. They would then need to provide the reports to Congress within six months.

(Washington Examiner)

“Think about what happens with the IRS and how frustrated people got this year with trying to get answers,” she said. “Well, one of the reasons for that is because people are not showing up to work there. Fifty to 55% of their employees are still working remote.”

“How many people do we all know that called the IRS and could not get an answer to their questions?” the senator asked. “Maybe the phones weren’t even answered. Maybe nobody ever got back to them.”

According to the Tennessee Republican, the Department of Veterans Affairs additionally has “40% of their people that are working remote.”

“They have a case backlog of over 250,000 cases,” she said. “And that backlog has grown throughout COVID.”

Blackburn listed off other federal agencies, claiming that “their parking lots are empty during the day, and people are still working remote, so we need to go back to those pre-pandemic policies because right now, we are paying for upkeep on these buildings. We are paying to heat them, to cool them. We are paying for maintenance, but people are working remote.”

Last month, amid criticism of federal remote work, the Biden administration requested that federal agencies work to increase the number of employees working in the office.

According to a memo from the Office of Management and Budget, federal agencies were asked to “substantially increase meaningful in-person work at Federal offices, particularly at headquarters and equivalents.”

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At the end of the day, Blackburn said that the “government should be here to help you. Government should not be taking care of itself.”

“These employees owe it to the taxpayers who are paying their salary to show up and do their job and answer the questions that the citizens have,” she said.