FMA’s Adam Kay attended the House Government Operations Subcommittee hearing “Frontline Feds” Serving the Public During a Pandemic” on Thursday, June 26. To quote Chairman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), “Let me be clear, today’s hearing is not about returning to work. The federal workforce has been working, tirelessly, throughout the pandemic. This hearing is about ensuring that federal agencies have plans, and the necessary resources to enable continuity of operations throughout the pandemic. It is about ensuring that thousands of federal workers who have contracted the coronavirus are respected.” We here at FMA strongly agree with this sentiment, and applaud the tireless work feds have undertaken during the pandemic, often at significant personal risk to themselves and their families.

The key witnesses for the hearing included: National Policy Director of the American Federation of Government Employees Jacqueline Simon, President and CEO of the National Safety Council Lorraine Martin, Managing Director for Strategic Issues of the GAO Jay Christopher Mihm, and former Senator Jim DeMint. Both Jacqueline Simon and Lorraine Martin focused their testimony primarily on the key importance of protecting feds physical health while enabling them to continue operations. We at FMA strongly agree with Lorraine Martin’s statement that “for the workers who serve at a computer for most of the day, decision makers should not rush to require them to report to a traditional office if it isn’t necessary.” Feds have successfully performed their jobs at an admirable level throughout the pandemic, even managing to ramp up critical services. 

This is a state of affairs that must be maintained in a way that will not put feds at unnecessary risk. During the hearing, Jacqueline Simon stated, “At one point we didn’t know if widespread telework would work out, but now there’s no excuse. At one point, we didn’t have adequate supplies of PPE for those at their regular duty stations, but today there’s no excuse. There should be no [physical] reopening unless and until federal agencies have the full capacity to test and protect their workforces.” Feds across the country are serving the nation every day, and consistently exceeding expectations of what is reasonably possible. FMA believes that the government must do all it can to ensure federal employees are not put at unnecessary risk.