EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Joni Ernst is rolling out a proposal for the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) that would cut back authorities worker telework and promote empty authorities workplace house.
Ernst, R-Iowa, is the chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus and has been working with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy since President-elect Trump tapped them to steer the brand new company.
Musk and Ramaswamy will go to Capitol Hill Thursday to satisfy with Republican lawmakers to debate methods to scale back authorities waste.
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Sen. Joni Ernst speaks in the course of the third installment of The Senate Challenge on the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the USA Senate June 12, 2023, in Boston. (Getty Photos)
Ernst will roll out her new proposal and a 60-page report throughout her first Senate DOGE Caucus assembly Thursday morning, which Musk and Ramaswamy are anticipated to attend.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson will then maintain an occasion with Musk and Ramaswamy Thursday afternoon for all Republican legislators within the Home and Senate, which Ernst will attend.
Ernst has been investigating telework abuse for 2 years and primarily based her suggestions to DOGE on her findings.
First, Ernst proposes the federal authorities relocate Washington’s workforce throughout the nation. Ernst steered laws that will relocate the headquarters of non-security-related authorities departments and companies exterior Washington to areas with “existing expertise for carrying out the mission and goals of each.”
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She additionally proposed laws to relocate at the very least 30% of the staff from Washington, D.C., headquarters of non-security-related authorities departments and companies to subject places of work in communities throughout the nation.
Ernst additionally steered that the White Home and government department companies contemplate relocating some workers, with none congressional directive.
Subsequent, Ernst is proposing Congress set a objective for all federal authorities companies to attain a 60% day by day occupancy at their headquarters, whereas noting that, at the moment, not a single company sees even half capability occupancy.
Trump introduced Nov. 12, 2024, that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy could be main the Division of Authorities Effectivity. (Getty Photos)
“There are thousands of other government buildings around the country sitting totally vacant and unused,” the report states. “A lot of that is leased house.
“There is a simple answer,” the report continues. “Use it or lose it!”
Ernst proposed that the Normal Companies Administration public sale “vacant, unneeded, and underutilized buildings and property without unnecessary strings and conditions.”
She mentioned companies ought to “immediately cancel or allow to expire the $15 million worth of underutilized leased office space and property.”
“Not a single headquarters of a major agency or department in the nation’s capital is even half full,” Ernst’s report mentioned. “Government buildings average an occupancy rate of 12%.”
In keeping with the report, sustaining and leasing authorities workplace buildings prices roughly $8 billion yearly, with one other $7.7 billion spent on the power to maintain them up and operating.
Ernst mentioned the federal government owns 7,697 vacant buildings and one other 2,265 which are partially empty.
She proposed that Congress move a bipartisan invoice, the Federal Property Sale and Switch Act (FASTA) Reform Act to increase the Public Buildings Reform Board’s mission figuring out unused properties for the federal government to promote.
Sen. Joni Ernst speaks with reporters after the Senate Republicans’ weekly coverage lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington March 6, 2024. (Reuters/Bonnie Money)
She additionally proposed Congress move laws that requires the “reduction and consolidation of unused space to ensure all buildings achieve a utilization rate of 60 percent or more.”
In the meantime, Ernst is proposing that efficiency decide whether or not a federal worker could make money working from home.
Ernst proposed that Congress move practically half a dozen payments that will “make telework transparent and accountable.”
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Ernst additionally famous that federal staff have been “padding their paychecks” by claiming to be working in areas with larger pay charges, whereas truly dwelling elsewhere.
“My audits are finding as many as 23-68% of teleworking employees for some agencies are boosting their salaries by receiving incorrect locality pay,” she mentioned. “Some employees live more than 2,000 miles away from their office, and one ‘temporary’ teleworker collected higher locality pay for nearly a decade.”
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Ernst will introduce her proposal to Musk and Ramaswamy throughout Thursday’s assembly, after the 2 mentioned they’re largely targeted on how DOGE may help in figuring out waste and laws that could possibly be eradicated by means of the manager department.
Republicans will management the White Home and each chambers of the legislature when President-elect Trump returns to workplace in January.
