Blackburn Files Senate Version of Show Up Act to Reverse Pandemic Telework Policies

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., filed a Senate version Thursday of the House-passed Stopping Home Office Work's Unproductive Problems Act (HR-139) in a bid to roll back federal agencies’ COVID-19 telework policies. The measure, which the House approved in February, would require the FCC and all other federal agencies to return to using the telework policies in place at the end of 2019. The measure would effectively require all federal employees who were working in the office before the COVID-19 pandemic to return to their former work locations. Unions representing employees at the FCC and other agencies criticized HR-139 before its House passage (see 2302010068). “I regularly hear from Tennesseans struggling to get ahold of a federal agency because of the massive backlog created by employees not being in the workplace,” Blackburn said. The Show Up Act “would help restore accountability and productivity within the federal government, and I urge the Senate to promptly join the House in passing it.” Six other GOP senators are co-sponsors.