Speaking in a very powerful and entertaining resurfaced video, Senator Joni Ernst rattled off a list of ways America’s federal bureaucrats have abused their power and positions, such as by “working” from home while taking bubble baths. Though from a Senate hearing in 2023, the report Sen. Ernst unveiled showed the multi-faceted sorts of fraud that DOGE needs to cut.
As a reminder, the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was created by President Donald Trump in the first moments of his second administration to go after the sort of fraud, waste, and abuse of the sort that Sen. Ernst called out back in 2023, and it has found many similar forms of waste.
In any case, laying out the massive forms of fraud in a speech about “Bubble Bath Bureaucrats,” Sen. Ernst began by noting that America’s taxpayers were furious to see bureaucrats not working in their offices. She said, “While the Senate is once again bustling with activity—I see we even have a new class of Senate pages representing us and they are here for duty. You’ve reported for duty, right? Welcome to all of our new pages. Thank you for your service as well, and the halls of Washington’s bureaucracies, as we look about this city, they remain largely empty and hollow. And that, folks, is a top issue for Iowa taxpayers and folks across the country.”
Continuing, she noted the many forms of waste and delay that have resulted from federal employees being anything other than hard at work. She noted, “Thousands of calls to the Department of Veterans Affairs from veterans seeking mental health services are going unanswered. Desperate travelers are waiting hours on the phone or in line hoping to speak with someone at the State Department about passport delays that are causing vacation cancelations. Our seniors are calling the Social Security Administration and are increasingly being greeted with busy messages, waiting longer to speak to a representative, or having their calls go unanswered altogether as the agency shifts towards remote work.”
Giving a particularly infuriating example of the sort of work from home abuses that the bureaucracy was caught committing, the senator said, “Frustrated Americans are being put on hold while too many federal employees are phoning it in. A manager of a VA medical center responsible for overseeing the scheduling of veterans’ care appointments actually, and get this, folks, this is no joke. An overseer for scheduling veterans’ care appointments called in to a meeting from a bubble bath—and even posted a selfie of it on social media with the caption, ‘my office for the next hour.’”
Commenting on what that shows people about what their tax dollars are being used for and thus how infuriating it is, Sen. Ernst said, “Another VA staffer lamented, ‘It’s almost as if this employee is making a mockery of all veterans. I can sit here in my tub and relax, and you just have to wait.’ And that is exactly what is happening. The VA is still providing misleading wait times to hide the problem, but the heartbreaking stories of veterans continuing to go without urgent, medically-necessary care—sometimes for months—tells the whole story.”
Adding to that, she noted the massive amount of waste that has resulted from the federal government paying for office buildings that the bureaucrats aren’t using. She said, “Taxpayers are also picking up the cost of maintaining mostly empty buildings in Washington. Seventy-five percent or more of the office space at the headquarters of most of our federal agencies is not being used. The vacant offices beg the question: Where are all of the federal employees? Only one out of every three bureaucrats is fully back in the office. One out of every three, according to a recent Office of Personnel Management survey.”
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Then, a bit later, she sounded off on what bureaucrats are doing on the taxpayer’s dime, saying, “It’s not fair to let the responsibilities of running a federal agency—and the country—fall on the shoulders of hardworking public servants who are showing up while others are out golfing on the taxpayers’ dime. That is why I have asked the Inspector General of every single federal department and agency to determine, first, the impact of telework on the delivery and response times of services, and second, how much taxpayer money could be saved by consolidating unused office space and adjusting government salaries for those who have relocated and chosen to remain out of the office. Most of America is back to work, and it’s time for burrowed bureaucrats in Washington to answer the call of duty on behalf of taxpayers, veterans, seniors, and our great nation.”
Watch her here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video