Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, details her meeting with President-elect Trump and Elon Musk to create a congressional DOGE office and proposes spending cuts on vacant buildings, science lab experiments and other government contracts.
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) is vowing to work with the incoming Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reverse a recent Biden administration deal allowing thousands of federal employees to continue working from home for another five years.
“On its way out the door, the Biden admin is locking in telework for 42,000 @SocialSecurity bureaucrats until AFTER President Trump leaves office! Unacceptable!” Ernst wrote on X. “I’ll be working with @elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy, and @DOGE to fix this ASAP and get bureaucrats back to work.”
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 10, 2024 in Washington, DC. Ernst leads the Senate’s DOGE caucus. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The largest federal workers’ union in the country, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), confirmed to FOX Business Tuesday that it has secured a deal that “places current levels of telework into our National Agreement through October 25, 2029.”
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Bloomberg first reported the agreement allowing the extension of hybrid work for some 42,000 Social Security Administration (SSA) workers, which was signed by President Biden’s former SSA Commissioner, Martin O’Malley.
Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley testifies before the Senate Committee on the Budget at the U.S. Capitol on September 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. ( Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The move comes as DOGE, co-led by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, says it wants to end remote work and bring federal employees back into the office during President-elect Trump’s second term.
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DOGE is the brainchild of Musk, and the aim of the initiative is to remove government waste and slash federal spending. Ramaswamy has said DOGE will delete entire federal agencies, and the commission’s work is expected to be wrapped up by July 4, 2026.
Elon Musk (L) Vivek Ramaswamy (R) (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images andPaul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
DOGE plans to trim the federal workforce as part of its cost-cutting measures. One way it plans on reducing headcount is by requiring government employees to come into the office, with the theory that many workers will quit if they are no longer allowed to continue working from home.
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Congressional Republicans and some Democrats have vowed to work with DOGE to cut government waste.
Ernst is head of the Senate’s DOGE caucus, and has already outlined some $1 trillion in cuts the agency could make from the federal budget.
FOX Business’ Alexa Angelus contributed to this report.
