Telework Enhancement Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. WITTMAN. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from California for yielding. I would like to thank him, also, for his leadership in this issue.

I rise today in support of the Senate amendment to H.R. 1722, the Telework Improvement Act.

This legislation will foster the use of telework by Federal agencies by ensuring that each agency has a telework policy, and that employees are informed about their eligibility to telework. This bill would ensure that those Federal employees who are eligible to telework are able to do so, with an emphasis on enhancing agency operations and productivity.

Virginia's First District is home to thousands of Federal employees, many of whom commute hours each day. Despite the fact that there are such numerous benefits to teleworking, such as reduced traffic congestion and energy consumption, cost savings, competitive hiring and retention, readiness and emergency preparedness, many Federal agencies continue to underutilize telework.

The snowstorm last winter, as we have heard referred to today, which closed the Federal Government several days is a good example of how teleworking programs can achieve cost savings. We saw during that time that 30 percent of our Federal workers actually teleworked during that snowstorm, achieving $30 million daily in reduced costs for that Federal workforce being offsite. As Representative Wolf so stated there, that, I think, is a great example of the potential savings that can be achieved through teleworking.

Under this legislation, Federal employees handling classified information, though, would not be eligible to telework. This policy effectively prevents the use of teleworking programs by employees who need access to classified information specifically in the areas of defense, homeland security, law enforcement, and intelligence.

The Director of the National Intelligence Agency's Vision 2015 states that there is a definite need for cross-organizational collaboration, cross-functional teams, and joint duty amongst the intelligence agencies, and this is going to require a much more agile infrastructure.

Vision 2015, as it is identified, suggests that the intelligence community will have to shift from the current centralized model, where employees are consolidated in a single location, to a model where a dispersed workforce can rapidly come together in a virtual environment to respond to new tasks and missions. This workforce is going to have to be flexible and is going to have to be spread out so that strategically we can meet whatever challenges this Nation may face in the future.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to further explore the potential of secure teleworking. Robust teleworking programs at Federal agencies will get cars off congested roads, enhance productivity, reduce costs, and ensure continuity of operations.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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