Senator Joni Ernst is spearheading a proposal for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aimed at reducing government employee telework and selling empty government office space. As the chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, Ernst has collaborated with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been appointed by President-elect Trump to lead the new agency.
Musk and Ramaswamy are scheduled to meet with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss strategies for cutting government waste. Ernst will unveil her proposal and a 60-page report during the first Senate DOGE Caucus meeting, which Musk and Ramaswamy are expected to attend.
House Speaker Mike Johnson will host an event with Musk and Ramaswamy for all Republican legislators in the House and Senate, with Ernst also in attendance. Ernst's recommendations to DOGE are based on her two-year investigation into telework abuse.
Ernst's proposal includes relocating the federal government workforce across the country, suggesting legislation to move non-security-related government departments and agencies outside Washington to areas with relevant expertise. She also recommends relocating a portion of employees to field offices in various communities.
Furthermore, Ernst advocates for federal agencies to achieve a 60% daily occupancy at their headquarters, emphasizing that current occupancy rates are significantly lower. She highlights the high costs associated with maintaining and leasing government office buildings, estimating an annual expenditure of $8 billion, with an additional $7.7 billion spent on energy.
Ernst proposes auctioning vacant government buildings and canceling underutilized leased office space to reduce costs. She calls for the passage of the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act (FASTA) Reform Act to identify unused properties for sale and legislation to consolidate unused space.
In terms of telework, Ernst suggests that performance should determine an employee's eligibility to work from home. She aims to make telework more transparent and accountable, citing instances of employees falsely claiming higher pay rates due to incorrect locality pay.
Ernst will present her proposal to Musk and Ramaswamy during the upcoming meeting, as they focus on identifying waste and regulations that could be eliminated through the executive branch. With Republicans set to control the White House and both legislative chambers in January, Ernst's initiatives could potentially reshape government operations.
