The House Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee held a hearing titled, “Please Leave Your Message at the Tone: Addressing Post-Pandemic Backlogs and Delays at Federal Agencies,” to examine customer service backlogs at government agencies and the plans agencies have to deliver services to the American people.

Topics addressed in the hearing included Social Security claims processing, delays in obtaining military and civil service personnel records, and passport applications. The committee heard from Chad M. Poist, Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance, and Management, United States Social Security Administration; Scott Levins, Director, National Personnel Records Center; and, The Honorable Rena Bitter, Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State. To view a recording of the hearing, click here.

The Subcommittee is continuing to pursue solutions to customer service delays at agencies. Earlier this year the House of Representatives passed the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems Act (H.R. 139) which would require agencies to “reinstate and apply the telework policies, practices and levels . . . in effect on December 31, 2019.” H.R. 139 passed by a vote of 221-206, but companion legislation has not been considered in the Senate. Separately, the Biden Administration has taken several steps to cut back on telework in conjunction with the end of the declared federal public health emergency for Covid-19 in May. An April 2023 memo from the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to “substantially increase meaningful in-person work at federal offices.” OPM also ended the use of “maximum telework” on May 11.

Subcommittee Chairman sessions said the hearing was about more than telework, however. “The federal government needs to get back to work. The work rules and regulations that have been of the past few years are old and do not meet today’s marketplace,” said Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX), Chairman of the Subcommittee. “It's not just a telework debate, it's an efficiency ratio that the federal government needs to demand at a time for all of its employees.”