RELEASE: Cloud Calls for Transparency on Federal Employee Union Time

WASHINGTON—Congressman Michael Cloud (TX-27) joined Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) in calling on President Donald Trump’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to reveal the hidden costs of taxpayer-funded “union time,” a practice where federal employees are paid to conduct union business instead of serving the American people.

In a letter to Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell, Rep. Cloud and Sen. Ernst urged the agency to resume full data collection and reporting on how much taxpayer money is spent subsidizing union activities during work hours. Under the Biden administration, these reports were halted, leaving Americans in the dark about the extent of wasteful spending.

“The Biden administration let bureaucrats lock in sweetheart union deals that kept them off the job and out of the office—while Americans have to show up to work every day,” Cloud said. “Federal employees work for the taxpayer and should not be spending their workday lobbying for even more perks on our dime. We’re asking the Trump Administration to review and put an end to these abuses so that these agencies begin serving the people who pay their salaries.”

“Federal employees have been on a four-year vacation from work but were quite busy locking in pay raises and cushy telework agreements with the Biden administration,” Ernst said. “We need a full accounting of how many work hours and tax dollars have been spent to fully understand just how broken the federal workforce is. I am getting bureaucrats back to work and serving taxpayers instead of themselves.”

In fiscal year 2019, OPM reported that federal employees spent 2.6 million hours—equivalent to 296 years—on union activities at a cost of $135 million to taxpayers. Additionally, agencies provided unions with $24 million worth of free office space and supplies. Reports indicate that some bureaucrats even claimed taxpayer-funded union time while on vacation or facing criminal charges.

Read more from TownHall here.

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