Laura Ingraham questions effectiveness of remote work for federal employees
Fox News host calls vacant offices of DHS, HHS and Department of Transportation 'a complete travesty'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The Ingraham Angle" host Laura Ingraham questioned the normalization of remote work in the show's opening monologue Tuesday night, chiding "many" federal employees in particular for not having "returned to work full-time since the pandemic began."
For example, the vacant offices of the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Transportation are "a complete travesty." That is "especially [the case] amidst an inflationary spiral, a supply chain crisis and a new Covid variant….," she continued. "…[I]n the twisted liberal mind, in-person work is expected for…store clerks, baristas…[,]janitors, [and] airport personnel but the average federal worker apparently believes staying home is their right."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ingraham called federal workers President Biden's "electoral bread and butter," citing a Biden administration plan to make telework permanent for federal employees.
According to the United States Office of Personnel Management's latest guidance, federal workers who have to commute at least twice a pay period should still be paid relative to the location of their in-person office.
"No one believes that managers are as effective at monitoring the activities of employees who are not on-site," Ingraham said. "And even if we take it as true that federal employees are just as efficient at home as they are at work, then why are we paying them [Washington,] D.C.-area wages?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She continued, "[I]n the old normal, …you actually got dressed, traveled to work and collaborated in-person with colleagues. But [the Biden administration's] new normal is, you say you’re working but you’re really in Cancun sipping margaritas on Zoom with your video screen off. Build Back Better? Sounds like Build Back Lazier to me."
The Fox News host blamed "this obsession with telework" on "climate change fanatics" and "diversity, race and gender goals."
"[H]ow many of these teleworkers are actually essential workers?," she asked. "…If they haven’t been into the office for two years, and have no plans to make it back in, how essential can they really be?"
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Ingraham noted that even "many of the big private sector companies that supported Biden are still struggling to get workers back into the office, especially in blue states." By contrast, she credited the U.S.' unrivaled innovative spirit and work ethic for its development of the "most powerful" economy in the world.
"We cannot phone it in and expect to preserve our standard of living," she cautioned. "Republicans in Congress must demand real answers about what exactly our bloated federal workforce has been up to — other than binge-watching Netflix and ordering food on DoorDash."