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Press Release Published: Jun 14, 2021

Comer & Hice: Biden Administration Puts Feds and Unions First, Americans Last

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and Government Operations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jody Hice (R-Ga.) today blasted the Biden Administration’s policy guidance which needlessly delays the return of federal employees to the workplace.

“The Biden Administration’s guidance puts unions and federal employees first, and Americans last. Delaying workplace returns until after unions’ demands are satisfied and then providing a month’s notice to federal employees before they must return to the workplace is just another example of the Biden Administration stalling our nation’s full recovery. Thanks to Operation Warp Speed, tens of millions of adults have been vaccinated and any adult who wants a vaccine can get one. As a result, COVID-19 infections and fatalities have plummeted across the nation. The federal government’s ongoing remote work has harmed Americans’ ability to access the services they need and the Biden Administration is out of excuses. It’s past time for the federal government to get back to normal and put Americans first,” said Ranking Member Comer.

“Even as millions of Americans have returned to work, the Biden Administration continues to give federal agencies a free pass with special permission to stay at home. That’s not leading by example. Furthermore, this has had a clear impact on the critical services these agencies provide with massive backlogs in processing veterans’ records, passport applications, tax returns, and so on. This is completely unacceptable. The rush to get federal workers out of the offices in the first days of the pandemic meant many of the fundamental challenges and questions on how to maintain an effective workforce went unresolved – and remain unresolved over a year later. Incredibly, now, the Biden Administration is moving forward with a hasty plan to make working from home the norm for many federal employees without any real attempt to evaluate the impact on the American people. We need to get folks back to work and then we can assess whether to make remote work permanent. Until then, it seems like delays and frustrations with the federal bureaucracy will only worsen from here,” said Subcommittee Ranking Member Hice.