Senate bill aims to increase oversight of federal teleworkers [Video]

WASHINGTON – As two-thirds of federal employees say they still telework occasionally, there’s a new push on Capitol Hill to get federal workers out of their homes and into the office.

Republican Senator Joni Ernst and Democratic Senator Gary Peters recently introduced the bipartisan “Telework Transparency Act.” The senators say they’re tired of getting conflicting information from federal agencies regarding the number of workers who have yet to return to their offices. During a recent hearing, Ernst engaged in a tense exchange with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack over telework productivity.

“Your employee goes on to say that remote work and telework employees are often unreachable and don’t even respond to simple email questions for hours,” said Ernst.

“To suggest that they’re not working, I think, is an affront to the hard-working members of the USA family,” said Vilsack. “I can show you chapter and verse of all the work that’s getting done.”

The proposed …