Rep. Comer Reintroduces Bill to End Pandemic-Era Remote Work for Federal Employees

[stevenl]

1 minute ago, dinsdale said:

Yep. Democrats are great and Trump is the Devil. The majority of Americans think they are better off now than four years ago etc., etc., etc. Fact is Trump is about to be the President of the United States of America AGAIN. This is a fact. How you handle this is up to you. So far you have shown yourself along with all the other progressive left supporters on here to be a very poor loser. Get over it and lets see how things go. Grown ups know how to move on. 

 

A sad deflection.

[candide]

5 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Yep. Democrats are great and Trump is the Devil. The majority of Americans think they are better off now than four years ago etc., etc., etc. Fact is Trump is about to be the President of the United States of America AGAIN. This is a fact. How you handle this is up to you. So far you have shown yourself along with all the other progressive left supporters on here to be a very poor loser. Get over it and lets see how things go. Grown ups know how to move on. 

 

Unrelated blah blah. Just the usual maga rant.

[Cryingdick]

For employees working from home they should have their pay evaluated based upon the cost of living and also for not having to commute. Maybe have a button that has to be pushed every 30 seconds installed at their desk at home. You can work from home but you will remain at your desk during working hours.

[Yagoda]

13 hours ago, candide said:

Unrelated blah blah. Just the usual maga rant.

There are no "rants" because the MAGA movement are winners and you America haters are losers. Losers rant. Winners are happy.

[johnnybangkok]

8 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

For employees working from home they should have their pay evaluated based upon the cost of living and also for not having to commute. Maybe have a button that has to be pushed every 30 seconds installed at their desk at home. You can work from home but you will remain at your desk during working hours.

Nonsense suggestion. If the job gets done then why should someone be paid less because they live in a cheaper area or they don't have to commute? Many companies already use remote workers with Thailand's recent investment to lure digital nomads being a prime example of how popular it's becoming because it doesn't matter where you are as long as the job is done. And pushing a button every 30 seconds - talk about big brother! Most if not all those WFH have KPI's to adhere to and as long as these are achieved, then who cares if someone works 4 hours or 8 hours!  I can assure you that if people are slacking they usually get found out VERY quickly.

[mrwebb8825]

On 1/17/2025 at 9:46 PM, Emdog said:

If the work can be done from home at the same level as at an office, it makes sense to allow to do the work at home.

Working from home is one means to fight climate change: no energy spent in commuting, no resources needed to build new highways, light rails, autos, buses, motorcycles, bikes even footpaths.... along with all the vast amount of energy saved from no commuting. No loss of land for parking lots, highways, rail ways, etc.

The major downsides are to restaurants that depend on the lunch time crowd and maybe some negative unforeseen psychological impact due to lack of face to face interaction

The bill is NOT to bar working from home. It's to remove the federal mandate that has been left in place for 2 yrs (for fed employees) after the rest of the country had it lifted. Pure government waste. It'll also compel congress to show up and stop Pelosi from casting 20-40 ballots by proxy (which she passed during the pandemic).

[candide]

4 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

The bill is NOT to bar working from home. It's to remove the federal mandate that has been left in place for 2 yrs (for fed employees) after the rest of the country had it lifted. Pure government waste. It'll also compel congress to show up and stop Pelosi from casting 20-40 ballots by proxy (which she passed during the pandemic).

However, the rest of the country, that is the private sector, did  not come back to the pre-pandemic level and policies. Actually, the share of remote working is expected to increase in 2025.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/remote-work-statistics/

 

And as posted before, the share of remote worker is higher in the private sector than in the federal administration.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60235#_idTextAnchor044

 

It may be relevant to change the current regulation, but there is no hurry to lift it before a new regulation (if needed) be voted.

[Cryingdick]

On 1/18/2025 at 11:59 PM, johnnybangkok said:

Nonsense suggestion. If the job gets done then why should someone be paid less because they live in a cheaper area or they don't have to commute? Many companies already use remote workers with Thailand's recent investment to lure digital nomads being a prime example of how popular it's becoming because it doesn't matter where you are as long as the job is done. And pushing a button every 30 seconds - talk about big brother! Most if not all those WFH have KPI's to adhere to and as long as these are achieved, then who cares if someone works 4 hours or 8 hours!  I can assure you that if people are slacking they usually get found out VERY quickly.

 

Your right the button is a silly idea. An ankle bracelet tethered to your desk is the way to go.  As far as cost the amount you get offered is based upon the cost of the area you live in or at least was. Why should the employer not get any of the gains made from working at home?  

 

Also a camera so you have to show up in a full a suit and perhaps a breathalyzer you can be asked to blow into now and then. 

[Emdog]

13 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

The bill is NOT to bar working from home. It's to remove the federal mandate that has been left in place for 2 yrs (for fed employees) after the rest of the country had it lifted. Pure government waste. It'll also compel congress to show up and stop Pelosi from casting 20-40 ballots by proxy (which she passed during the pandemic).

Okay to remove the mandate, but I do question you saying "pure government waste". Just musing on working from home concept, for business or government, it seems like it would reduce waste. If it were permanent, less office space would need to be bought or rented; less maintenance costs (no heat, janitor, upkeep for building you aren't renting); it is far more "green": parked cars don't burn fossil fuels... could have more parks and less parking lots...

So you think Pelosi only one casting remote? "171 U.S. House Democrats and 89 Republicans have voted by proxy since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi authorized the pandemic-era practice." (per Idaho Sun newspaper) I vote absentee, which is essentially the same thing... why not by proxy? You ever watch those speeches in the House? The ones showing only person speaking? Why? Because no one (or very few people) are there! Face it: Most members of congress are too busy trying to raise money for reelection to be bothered by little things like being present in Congress....

[mrwebb8825]

7 hours ago, Emdog said:

Okay to remove the mandate, but I do question you saying "pure government waste". Just musing on working from home concept, for business or government, it seems like it would reduce waste. If it were permanent, less office space would need to be bought or rented; less maintenance costs (no heat, janitor, upkeep for building you aren't renting); it is far more "green": parked cars don't burn fossil fuels... could have more parks and less parking lots...

So you think Pelosi only one casting remote? "171 U.S. House Democrats and 89 Republicans have voted by proxy since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi authorized the pandemic-era practice." (per Idaho Sun newspaper) I vote absentee, which is essentially the same thing... why not by proxy? You ever watch those speeches in the House? The ones showing only person speaking? Why? Because no one (or very few people) are there! Face it: Most members of congress are too busy trying to raise money for reelection to be bothered by little things like being present in Congress....

You've misread or misunderstood my post. Remote and absentee let's 1 person cast 1 vote. Proxy let's people like Pelosi cast votes for others as well hence the 20-30 votes reference as an example. There's nothing "Green" about it. There are people working for the government that are 'ghosts' and gaming the system.

Then there are people like the lady rep from TX that had been missing for 6 months and finally found in an old folks home. And she's an elected official. The list is WAY to long to post but it needs cleaning up.