On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., part of the congressional leadership as senior deputy majority whip, showcased his proposal to ensure federal employees can’t milk the clock on the taxpayers’ dime for union activities.
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 U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga.
Explaining why he brought out the bill on Thursday, 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. “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.
“As currently defined, ‘official time’ is any period of time given to a federal employee to perform union activities during the official workday,” Ross added. “Unfortunately, from my time as the former chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, I learned firsthand that the OPM has very little accountability for the use of ‘official time’ by federal employees.
“The amount of time federal employees spend conducting union business while on duty costs taxpayers around $157 million each year,” Ross continued. “At a time when our country is more than $18 trillion in debt, we need to ensure that we are better accounting for the use of taxpayer dollars.”
Ross’ bill was sent to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week. As of now, there is no Senate version of the bill.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
