Politics
Ariana Baio
Mar 10, 2023
content.jwplatform.com
It’s a good rule of thumb to follow to read things over before you comment on them.
Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is learning that lesson the hard way after she accidentally shaded Trump administration employees for “teleworking.”
On Thursday, Boebert, 36, questioned the Director of the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Kiran Ahuja on the number of federal employees remote working while on vacation.
The congressional hearing was part of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability’s review of the OPM.
“You’re not aware of any employee taking something that one would consider a vacation time and bringing their computer and maybe logging in just a portion of that time or not at all?” Boebert asked Ahuja.
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The Colorado Representative cited a “leaked” document that claimed “25 per cent of federal employees” are “not logging in to work.”
“They’re teleworking,” Boebert said.
However, Ahuja seemed a bit confused about why Boebert was using the number 25 per cent as it was irrelevant to her time under the Biden Administration.
Ahuja replied, “Congresswoman I do take issue with the characterization that 25 per cent of individuals are not logging in.”
“You’re basing that from 2020 which is in the last administration and I can’t speak to that particular incident,” Ahuja added.
The document Boebert cited was an internal Department of Health and Human Services report, leaked by The Washington Free Beacon, that indicates “on any given day from March - December 2020, between 20-30 per cent of HHS employees did not appear to be working.”
However, many will know that in March - December 2020, Donald Trump was president, not Joe Biden.
Boebert’s misstep led her to ask Ahuja where the current data is about federal employees working remotely or not logging in.
However, Ahuja clarified that she did not have that data as it is kept and collected by individual supervisors. Ultimately, Boebert requested they 'straighten out' their organisation of reports and yielded her time.
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