Relating to A National Emergency Declared By the President on March 2020
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, 2 years ago this month, things started shutting down due to COVID. We shut down the American economy; basically, 22 million people, all of a sudden, were unemployed. I think we learned a lot in the last 2 years, and if we have another pandemic, I don't think we would do it that way again. I think we have learned a lot from mistakes, and a lot of bad mistakes resulted from that decision.
So, in March 2020, employees were furloughed or sent home to work from home; schools were closed; events were canceled. Everyone was told to stay home.
Now, 2 years later, a lot has changed in the fight against COVID. Tests and treatments have been developed. Anyone who wants a vaccine can get one. High-quality masks are available free for anyone who chooses to wear a mask. Those masks protect the one wearing it, regardless of the choices of others around them, whether they make a choice to wear a mask or not. Restaurants, theaters, and sports venues are filling back up again. Demand for air travel is above prepandemic levels.
Yet our Federal Government remains frozen in time, operating as if it were still the spring of 2020. Federal Agencies remain shuttered to the taxpayers who fund it. Expensive office buildings in downtown DC are sitting deserted. Fifty percent of the executive branch workforce is still working remotely, and most have no plans to return to the office.
Some Agencies, such as the Veterans' Administration, had previously announced efforts to return to in-person work. Those plans have been indefinitely postponed. The U.S. Capitol Building, where we are right now, is closed to the public, despite nearly every State capitol building in the country finding a way to reopen.
Federal employees are here, as we all know, to serve the taxpayers. Agencies like the Veterans' Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and Social Security Administration that are responsible for processing benefits and tax refunds need to be fully operational. It is pretty plain and simple.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service offices, located in every Iowa county and most counties in most States, are responsible for signing up farmers for the Conservation Reserve Program and for crop insurance. Right now, those county offices are the busiest as farmers prepare for the upcoming crop year. These county offices still require employees to work from home. The U.S. Department of Agriculture employees have to meet with farmers to go over detailed maps of their land, making it nearly impossible even with video calls. I have received letters from farmers and USDA employees alike who are frustrated that they can't have in-person meetings.
We all know that backlogs persist across the Federal Government and show no signs of abating. The National Personnel Records Center, responsible for providing service records to veterans seeking their benefits, has not been fully staffed since March of 2020. They have a backlog of records. Those requests are so massive that it would take years to correct. For 2 years now, the Agency has been processing emergency requests only while the other requests just pile up. This Agency needs employees in the office to function. They are currently staffed at just 25 percent capacity. They have announced that they will not return to full operational status until ``the public health emergency has ended.''
Now, who knows when that will happen?
I guess veterans waiting to finish their application for benefits will just have to wait as well.
Now, we know the abysmal record of the IRS. It only answered 9 percent of its calls, and those are called customer support calls. They are already warning that this tax filing season is going to be a mess for those filing, and there is still a backlog of unprocessed returns from last year. Yet thousands of IRS employees remain out of the office.
Those trying to become U.S. citizens have been stuck in limbo for years. Records that the USCIS needs to process their applications are locked in the Federal records centers which are only open 25 percent of capacity.
Even a few Agencies that have announced a plan to return to in-person work are not acting with any sense of urgency. The Social Security Administration announced the reopening of field offices in April. So I guess they figure those who have already been waiting for 2 years can wait another 2 months.
My staff who help Iowans with their casework told me that the average number of days to get assistance from a Federal Agency has doubled now to 335 days. It takes almost a year to get an issue with a Federal Agency resolved. This is completely unacceptable.
In the spring of 2020, it seemed as if there was no choice. Caution at that time was warranted. But I might remind the heads of Federal Agencies that even at that time, millions of Americans did not work from home. We saw it on television all the time, and it is still a problem in a lot of places--not enough nurses, doctors. But regardless, they didn't work from home. Nurses, doctors, and first responders still went to work in person. Employees at grocery stores, delivery drivers, and warehouse workers still showed up to work in person at the height of this pandemic, when nobody really knew what was all involved. For millions of Americans, working from home was never an option. Their jobs were essential and they continued to work to keep our society and economy functioning.
While some Federal employees may be able to do their job effectively from home, the persistent lack of responsiveness from Federal Agencies make it clear that not all can work from home.
It is certainly not acceptable to tell taxpayers that they must wait for services that they need because those in charge are too skittish to make a return-to-work plan. It is past time for Agencies and their heads to set a date for employees to return to serving the people in person.
That is why I was very glad to join Senator Wicker in an introduction of a bill that he calls, by the acronym, the RETURN Act, which would require Agencies to share their plans to bring back the workforce within 30 days. I would urge my colleagues to support this bill and get the government back to work.
I also urge President Biden--and when I bring up the name ``President Biden,'' don't forget that some of this stuff started under the Trump administration and continues today, so this is not just a Democratic problem when I say President Biden. But I also urge President Biden, now in charge, to follow the example of Iowa's Governor Reynolds and show leadership on this matter. Iowa schools have been fully open in Iowa for more than a year. Governor Reynolds has ended the State's public health disaster emergency proclamation. This doesn't mean ignoring the spread of COVID-19 going forward. Of course, there should be accommodation for those at high risk, but there is absolutely no justification for maintaining a state of emergency as if it were still March of 2020.
Taxpayers have a right to have their government be responsive. Americans are back to work. It is time for the Federal Government to catch up.
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