If you want to better understand Rep. Matt Gaetz’s rebellion against former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the system in Washington, consider a new report by a watchdog group known as Open the Books.
Open the Books, according to The Washington Times on Tuesday, found that the federal government spent more than $3 billion on new furniture from 2020 to 2022.
That’s significant because, as the Times noted, “most buildings (were) sitting nearly empty as employees worked from home” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Open the Books study focused on eight departments. They included: Defense, Veterans Affairs, Justice, General Services Administration, State, Homeland Security, Transportation and Agriculture.
In all, they spent a combined $3.3 billion for furniture, even as “most of them used just a fraction of their office spaces,” the Times reported.
Defense spent the most, with $1.2 billion, more than one-third of the total.
The GSA, Transportation, and Agriculture doled out a combined $420 million, even though each agency used only 9% of its office space during the period in question.
The Justice Department filled the most space, as 35% of its offices were occupied.
The only agency to respond to a request for comment was the VA. Press secretary Terrence Hayes told the Times that given its focus on health care, the department had a “vast majority” of employees working in-person to treat patients.
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“VA’s 465,000 public servants are currently delivering more care and more benefits to more veterans than ever before in our nation’s history, and we regularly purchase furniture and office supplies to support them,” Hayes said. “Some of VA’s office-based employees teleworked during the pandemic, both for their safety and the safety of those we serve, but they represent a fraction of our total workforce.”
Open the Books noted that the VA $428 million on new furniture, despite using just 16% of its office space.
The Times also reported that the VA is yet back to fully in-person work, even though the pandemic emergency declaration expired months ago.
“The VA is looking to force employees back into its Washington headquarters at least 50% of the time by requiring a minimum of five days in the office every 10-day pay period,” the Times reported.
“In the case of office furniture, most federal headquarters are barely a quarter full on a given workday, and no major agency is at more than half capacity,” said Open the Books Founder and CEO Adam Andrzejewski. “Yet for some reason, we’ve bankrolled another billion dollars in desks, chairs, couches and more — while employees clock in from their own living rooms.”
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