A Senate report presented at the first Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus revealed that only 6% of federal employees report to work in person full-time, sparking calls for immediate reforms.
Led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), the investigation found that federal offices in Washington, D.C., operate at just 12% occupancy. “The nation’s capital is a ghost town,” Ernst said, adding that nearly one-third of federal workers now operate entirely remotely.
Elon Musk, co-chair of DOGE, was blunt in his assessment. “If you exclude security guards & maintenance personnel, the number of government workers who show up in person and do 40 hours of work a week is closer to 1%,” he wrote on social media.
Financial abuses tied to remote work were also uncovered. Some federal employees were found exploiting locality pay rates for areas where they no longer reside, with some living thousands of miles away. Ernst’s report highlighted that up to 68% of employees in certain agencies took advantage of these discrepancies.
House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed outrage, pledging that Congress and the Trump administration would demand a return to in-person work. “This is not something the American people will tolerate,” Johnson said.
With public services suffering under these conditions, DOGE leaders are pressing for reforms to ensure accountability and restore trust in the federal workforce.
