Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. HAGEMAN. Madam Chair, I rise today in favor of my amendment No. 165 to H.R. 4365.

My amendment prohibits the use of funds to pay regular remote and telework for the civilian and contractor workforce of the Department of Defense.

Madam Chair, at the very beginning of this Congress, our majority brought the voice of the American people to this Chamber saying that enough was enough, that it was time for the Federal workforce to return to work.

To this end, we passed the SHOW UP Act because our constituents were sick and tired of the lack of service from the Federal Government.

While progress has been made to some extent, there are still legacy and recent telework and remote work agreements that keep Federal workers who are supposed to be delivering for the American people out of the office. This includes the Department of Defense workforce, which is allowed to work from home in varying capacities.

In 2019, the Office of the Director of National Security found that across the entire Federal Government 4.2 million employees were eligible to access classified information. The Defense Department is responsible for 3.8 million of these clearances. Of these clearances for employees of the DOD, 20 percent are civilian workforce and 26 percent are contractors.

The DOD works largely in a classified setting. Its responsibilities are to safeguard this Nation. How this mission can be fulfilled when the employees are sitting at home is beyond me.

Madam Chair, it is time for the Federal workforce, including those who work for the DOD, to return to work so the American people can receive a full and fair return on the services that they fund through their tax dollars.

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Ms. HAGEMAN. Madam Chair, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).

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Ms. HAGEMAN. Madam Chair, I believe that my colleague on the other side misunderstands the amendment or the scope of it. The amendment does not prevent DOD employees from working from home if needed, such as for health or emergency situations. In fact, the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service is responsible for policy oversight of the DOD telework and remote work programs. These programs are administered in accordance with DOD Instruction 1035.01.

This amendment specifically prevents only telework and remote work on a regular, recurring basis. The other categories that accommodate health issues, emergency situations, and more would be left untouched, providing the necessary flexibility.

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Ms. HAGEMAN. Madam Chair, this should be a no-brainer that our Federal workers and our employees should actually go to work. In fact, it is actually bipartisan. President Biden called on his Cabinet members to aggressively execute plans for Federal employees to work more in their offices.

The President and I do not see eye to eye on very much--in fact, very little. In this instance, putting workers back in the office is common sense.

This amendment would not defund telework and remote work for servicemen and -women. This amendment specifically prevents funds for DOD employees, civilians, and contractors.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. HAGEMAN. Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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