Shortly after winning the 2024 election, Donald Trump began building his administration. He quickly announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, which was unprecedented.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will head the new department, which will be tasked with identifying and eliminating government waste. The two will have their work cut out for them. After all, wasting taxpayer money is the only thing the federal government does efficiently.
In addition to holding meetings on Capitol Hill and recruiting volunteers to work with DOGE, Musk has created an X account for DOGE, stating that the new department will be completely transparent in its work. They have been busy posting areas they intend to target when the new administration takes office in January.
One of the first areas they have earmarked is government properties. EMPTY government properties, to be exact.
Federal government agencies are using, on average, just 12% of the space in their DC headquarters. The Department of Agriculture, with space for more than 7,400 people, averaged 456 workers each day (6% occupancy).
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) November 21, 2024
Why are American taxpayer dollars being spent to maintain empty… pic.twitter.com/qqhlqb3gRT
The post ends with a very good question.
Why are American taxpayer dollars being spent to maintain empty buildings?
It's even more disturbing when you realize how much they are spending.
Most federal workers don’t physically show up, yet the cost of maintaining & providing energy for govt office buildings is $15BN/year (not counting billions more spent on office furnishings). The government owns 7,967 vacant buildings. This is nuts. Sounds like a job for DOGE.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 23, 2024
The craze of federal employees working from home took hold during the Covid lockdowns, and as it turns out, they like working from home and would prefer not to come back.
Literally thousands of empty buildings, not just in America, but around the world, paid for with your tax dollars!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2024
President-Elect Trump has made it clear that he expects federal employees to return to the office, announcing that workers who don't will be dismissed.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has imposed a roadblock to prevent workers from being required to show up at work.
Trump wants to fire federal workers who don't return to office, calls telework deal 'ridiculous' https://t.co/KBZBYkYVNk
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) December 16, 2024
The President-Elect explained his position at a Mar-a-Lago press conference.
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday vowed to fire federal employees who don’t come back into the office, threatening to file a lawsuit challenging a Biden administration labor contract that cemented remote work benefits for thousands of government workers.
“If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed,” Mr. Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
“And somebody in the Biden administration even gave a five-year waiver of that so that for five years, people don’t have to come back into the office,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. So it’s’ like a gift to the union.”
Trump referred to a recent contract negotiation between Biden's Social Security Administration and the American Federation of Government Employees. The provision only requires workers to be in the office as little as two days a week.
The American Federation of Government Employees Represents 42,000 workers, and the 'Telework' provision in the contract was extended until 2029.
Union President Everett Kelly said the union is prepared to fight to keep the provision.
"Collective bargaining agreements entered into by the federal government are binding and enforceable under the law. We trust the incoming administration will abide by their obligations to honor lawful union contracts. If they fail to do so, we will be prepared to enforce our rights,” Kelley said.
Federal workers who do not want to return to the office will be fired. - President Trump
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) December 16, 2024
1000% agree with this.
The contract, given to federal workers just weeks before Biden exits the White House, seems to be another move aimed at hindering the Trump Administration from implementing its agenda. With a labor contract in place forcing workers to go to work, they could be tied up in courts for a long time.
Did Biden successfully dodge DOGE?
Time will tell.
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