Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the leader of the Senate’s DOGE Caucus, introduced a bill on Thursday to reform the federal workforce in keeping with the theme of President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency led by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
The DRAIN THE SWAMP Act would require each cabinet agency to relocate at least 30% of its employees outside of their Washington, D.C., headquarters and require them to work in the office full-time.
“Federal employees have shown they don’t want to work in Washington, and in the Christmas spirit, I am making their wish come true. Instead of keeping them bogged down in the swamp, I’m working to get bureaucrats beyond the D.C. beltway to remind public servants who they work for,” Ernst said. “In addition to improving government service for all Americans, we can give taxpayers an extra Christmas gift by selling off unused and expensive office buildings.”
Trump, Musk, Ramaswamy and House Speaker Mike Jonhson, R-La., have been highly critical of the amount of federal employees working outside of their agency’s offices.
“One of the first things that I think you’ll see is a demand from the new administration, from all of us here in Congress, that federal workers return to their desks and get back to the work that they’re supposed to be doing,” Johnson said.
