Florida Republican Dennis Ross, part of the congressional leadership as senior deputy majority whip, scored a win this week as his proposal to ensure federal employees can’t milk the clock on the taxpayers’ dime for union activities passed the House.
Back in January, Ross brought out his bill which would make the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) send annual reports to Congress on how federal employees use official time. The bill is being co-sponsored by Georgia Republican Jody Hice.
Explaining why he unveiled the bill, Ross left no room for doubt that he was concerned about federal employees doing union work while on the clock.
“I introduced H.R. 4392 so Congress may better account for federal employees’ use of working hours and eliminate wasteful spending,” Ross said back in January. “This bill will require the Office of Personnel Management to submit an annual, detailed report to Congress on the use of ‘official time’ by federal employees, outlining specific types of activities or purposes for which this time was granted.”
Ross’ bill was brought into the “Government Reform and Improvement Act” which passed on a party lines vote early Thursday morning. Ross took to the House on Wednesday night to argue for his proposal.
“Official time is defined as any period of time used by a federal employee to perform representational or consultative functions and during which the employee would otherwise be in a duty status,” Ross said. “Essentially, this allows federal employees to perform union activities during their official workday.
“As the former chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, I learned firsthand that OPM has very little accountability for the use of official time,” Ross added. “In fact, OPM last reported about the use of official time in the year 2012.
My bill would require OPM to submit a detailed report annually to Congress on the use of official time by federal employees – outlining specific types of activities or purposes for which this time was granted.
“In 2012, federal employees spent roughly 3.4 million hours conducting union business while on duty. This came at a cost of $157 million to the taxpayers,” Ross continued.“At a time when our country is more than $19 trillion in debt, we need to ensure that we are better accounting for the use of taxpayer dollars. This legislation will bring greater transparency to the activities union officials are conducting while being paid by the American taxpayer.
“I want to thank Chairman Chaffetz and my colleague from Georgia, Mr. Hice, for their support on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and I yield back my time,” Ross said in conclusion.
The measure now heads to the Senate.
