Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today joined Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and 41 colleagues in a letter to the heads of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to request immediate action to transition federal workers back to in-person operations.
In the letter, the senators cite the “widespread lack of responsiveness and accessibility across the federal government on account of current agency work plans,” which have kept workers out of the office and have contributed to significant delays for government services.
“Businesses have now reopened, children and teachers have returned to in-person learning, and health care and public safety workers continue to show up for work. Yet we continue to hear from constituents in our states about a lack of responsiveness from federal agencies,” the senators wrote.
The letter follows months of delays from the Biden administration on implementing plans for agencies to return their workforce to the office and to address the mounting backlog of cases that arose while workers were working from home.
The senators cite several examples of the impact this extended absence has had on government services:
· Department of Veterans Affairs: As of August 30, 2021, there were almost 182,000 claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs that were backlogged because of a pause of in-person Compensation and Pension examinations last year.
· Internal Revenue Service: As of October 2, 2021, the IRS had 6.8 million unprocessed individual 2020 tax year returns.
· State Department: The wait time to get a new passport is now 12 to 18 weeks.
· Social Security Administration: Social Security offices throughout the country have been closed except for those beneficiaries who make an appointment and are deemed to be in “dire need.” Social Security recipients have been forced to use unreliable mail services to send personal identifying information or paperwork to local field offices as most offices will not accept these documents in person.
On June 10, 2021, GSA, OMB and OPM issued a memo regarding the return of federal employees and contractors to physical workplaces. The deadline to submit their plans was July 19, 2021. However, given President Biden’s new vaccine mandate and the spread of the Delta variant, many agencies have had to produce new plans, which are currently still unavailable to the general public and to Congress despite ongoing requests.
In addition to Wicker and Grassley, the letter is signed by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.).
Full text of the letter can be found HERE.
Original source can be found here.
