U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on May 11 led half a dozen of her Republican colleagues in introducing legislation that would authorize a study of the federal government’s COVID-era telework policy toward determining whether it’s a waste of time.
“As the public health emergency officially ends in the United States, so should the pandemic-era telework policies for federal bureaucrats,” Sen. Blackburn said. “I regularly hear from Tennesseans struggling to get ahold of a federal agency because of the massive backlog created by employees not being in the workplace.”
Sen. Blackburn sponsored the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act of 2023, S. 1565, with six original cosponsors, including U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT).
If enacted, S. 1565 would require executive agencies to submit to Congress a study of the impacts of expanded telework and remote work by agency employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a plan for each agency’s future use of telework and remote work, according to the text of the bill.
Specifically, S. 1565 would require federal agencies to return to 2019 (Dec. 31, 2019 benchmark) pre-pandemic telework levels within 30 days, and to complete and submit to Congress studies within six months detailing how pandemic-era telework levels impacted their missions — including adverse effects on customer service, network security, and costs for real property and locality pay, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Blackburn’s staff.
Additionally, the measure would prevent federal agencies from permanently expanding telework without submitting telework plans certified by the Office of Personnel Management to Congress that detail how remote work policies would: substantially improve agency mission-performance; substantially lower agency costs for real property and locality pay; ensure security for agency networks, data and records; and accelerate the dispersal of federal jobs nationwide and outside of Washington, D.C., the summary says.
S. 1565 is the U.S. Senate version of the same-named H.R. 139, introduced on Jan. 9 by bill sponsor U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY). H.R. 139 passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 1 by a vote of 221-206.
“It’s illogical that VA employees are able to work from a bubble bath, while organizations across the country have safely re-opened,” said Sen. Blackburn. “The SHOW UP Act would help restore accountability and productivity within the federal government, and I urge the Senate to promptly join the House in passing it.”