The federal government is dropping $3.3 billion on new office furniture — from picnic tables in Atlanta to recliners in Pakistan — as most of its employees work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, a watchdog report obtained exclusively by The Post shows.
Between 2020 and 2022, federal agencies are spending more than $1 billion a year on fancy decorations — a rate consistent with pre-pandemic levels even as departments fill only a quarter of their available office space on average.
Taxpayer watchdog OpenTheBooks.com revealed furniture spending in a study published Tuesday, citing a Government Accountability Office report that found 17 of 24 federal agencies used at least 9% and as much as 49% of their building capacity into the fourth year of the epidemic.
The lavish purchases included $237,960 for a solar-powered picnic table for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and $120,000 for a luxurious Ethan Allen leather recliner for the US Embassy in Islamabad.
The Environmental Protection Agency also shelled out $6.5 million for stylish furniture even as it downsized to move into 300,000 square feet of office space at Four Penn Central in Philadelphia.
The federal government spent $3.3 billion on office furniture as its employees work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, including $237,960 for solar-powered picnic tables for the CDC.Getty Images
In one “appalling example”, the group said the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation spent almost $15 million on new furniture – or $14,400 for each of its 1,000 employees.
OpenTheBooks founder and CEO Adam Andrzejewski said the audit highlights the need for closer scrutiny of federal spending as Congress considers further government funding in the coming weeks.
“As Congress continues to fight spending, we want to make it clear that there are significant amounts of money that are appropriated, spent, wasted and sometimes hidden from taxpayers,” Andrzejewski told The Post.
The State Department spent $120,000 on luxury leather recliners for the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan (above).Wikipedia
“In the case of office furniture, most federal headquarters are nearly a quarter full on any given weekday, and no major agency has more than half capacity. But for some reason we’ve funded another billion dollars in desks, chairs, sofas and more — while workers come in from their own living rooms.”
The House and Senate passed appropriations bills to fund the government at current levels until Nov. 17 before long-term spending legislation must be considered.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) told The Post: “Overspending on luxury furniture when more than half the federal workforce is teleworking is just a symptom of the culture of wasteful spending that has plagued Washington, DC, for decades.”
“The ‘use it or lose it’ policy encourages unnecessary spending because agencies are penalized, on the contrary [of] be rewarded, for not spending all their year-end funds,” he added. “This is just one of many perverse incentives that drive irresponsible spending in our nation’s Capitol — and it has to stop.”
The Environmental Protection Agency also shelled out $6.5 million for stylish furniture even as it downsized to move into a 300,000-square-foot office space in Philadelphia (above).EPA
The Pentagon had the highest level of spending, with $1.2 billion in new furniture purchases, the group said.
Other agency spending levels include $428 million by the Department of Veterans Affairs, $408 million by the Department of Justice, $308 million by the General Services Administration, $302 million by the State Department and $155 million by the Department of Homeland Security.
OpenTheBooks notes that Department of Defense furniture spending also remains higher than other agencies when taking pre-pandemic spending into account, with the Pentagon recording $2.1 billion in purchases between 2018 and 2022.
A spokesperson for the Department of Veterans Affairs told The Post: “Some employees in VA offices are teleworking during the pandemic, both for their safety and the safety of those we serve, but they represent a small portion of our total workforce.”
“The VA’s 465,000 civil servants are now providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before in our nation’s history, and we regularly purchase office furniture and supplies to support them,” the spokeswoman said.
In one “egregious example,” the group said the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation spent nearly $15 million on new furniture — or $14,400 for each of its 1,000 employees. The Washington Post via Getty Images
“The vast majority of VA employees are working in person at VA health care facilities throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, mobilizing to help millions of veterans and their families through this difficult time,” he added. “All of our VA medical centers remain open during the pandemic, with thousands of VA employees working at those centers every day to serve our nation’s Veterans.”
“Now that the public health emergency is over, the VA is helping to lead the federal government in getting headquarters workers back to the office,” the spokeswoman said.
“Due to the expiration of the lease, PBGC is moving to a new headquarters in 2022 with a smaller footprint to reduce costs,” a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation spokesperson told The Post. “PBGC headquarters relocation costs were authorized in 2017 by Congress.”
No other agency responded to a request for comment.
President Biden insisted in his 2022 State of the Union address that it’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our big cities with people again, but reports show his administration has struggled to reduce the use of telework.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients in an August email called on all cabinet members to “aggressively” reduce telecommuting at their agencies this fall, Axios reported.
The Pentagon had the highest level of spending, with $1.2 billion in new furniture purchases, OpenTheBooks.OpenTheBooks said
“We are returning to work in person because it is important to the well-being of our team and will allow us to deliver better results for the American people,” Zients wrote in an email to the agency chief.
“As we look toward the fall, and with the end of the public health emergency of COVID-19, your agency will implement an increase in the amount of in-person work for your team.
“This is the president’s top priority — and I look to each of you to aggressively implement this transition in September and October.”
Reckless government furniture spending was also the subject of a heated exchange during last week’s Republican presidential primary debate, with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) accusing Nikki Haley of spending $52,701 on curtains for her New York residence while serving as UN ambassador in 2017 and 2018.
“You got bad information,” Haley replied to Scott. “On the curtain – do your homework, Tim, because [President Barack] Obama bought it. … They were there before I showed up at the residence.”
An internal report last year showed about 25% of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services did not work remotely at all during the first nine months of the outbreak, failing to log into their agency’s software applications to read email, conduct video calls or consult files work, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
President Biden asserted in his 2022 State of the Union address that it is time for America to get back to work and fill our great downtowns once again with people.” The Washington Post via Getty Images
In February, the House passed a bill requiring all agencies to return to their pre-pandemic telecommuting policies, with three Democrats joining all but one Republican in support.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who held hearings earlier this year on unused federal workspace, told The Post: “The failure of agencies to properly use real estate provided by taxpayers has plagued the federal government for decades. .”
“Unacceptable telework policies implemented in the wake of the pandemic and resistance to returning to the office have turned this into a crisis,” Perry said. “Purchasing furniture is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to wasting money on unused space.
“We owe it to the taxpayers to sell this excess space for fair market value as soon as possible.”
The measure has not yet been taken by the Senate.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
