As COVID winds down, 205 Democrats vote against a bill requiring federal workers to return to work.
On Wednesday, nearly every Democrat in the House voted against a Republican bill requiring federal agencies to end COVID-era telework policies and return federal workers to their offices.
The Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems Act, or the SHOW UP Act, received 205 Democratic votes against it and three Democratic votes in favour. The bill, which passed 221-206, would require federal agencies to return to pre-pandemic telework policies, as well as conduct an assessment of how nearly three years of telework affected the government’s productivity.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said the legislation is needed because the liberal telework policy that has existed for nearly three years has eroded government service.
BIDEN TELLS CONGRESS THAT COVID-19 EMERGENCIES WILL BE ENDED ON MAY 11TH.
“Federal agencies are failing to meet their missions,” said Comer on the House floor. “They are not carrying out their responsibilities. They are failing the people of the United States.”
“They’ve been waiting for their tax returns from the IRS for months,” Comer added. “They have been waiting for the Social Security Administration to answer their questions and provide their benefits for months. Our veterans have even had to wait months for their medical records to be released by the National Archives.”
Democrats countered that telework has made the federal government more efficient.
“We strongly oppose this bill, which is an attack on all of the progress we have made in telework policy over the last several years,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and the top Democrat on the Oversight and Accountability panel Committee.
“Telework has strengthened private and public workplaces across the country, increasing productivity, efficiency, worker morale and satisfaction, reducing traffic congestion, and making positive environmental changes,” he said.
Raskin also criticised the GOP bill’s title and stated that it is incorrect to assume that teleworking federal employees are not working while at home.
“People who engage in telework are working,” Raskin explained. “They are already employed and do not need to return to work.”
