Ernst Seeks to Crack Down on Government Employees Doing Union Activities During Work Hours

Republican lawmakers want to rein in the amount of time federal employees spend on union time—including activities such as lobbying Congress and negotiating more benefits—during taxpayer-paid worktime. 

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, recently introduced Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act, and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. introduced companion legislation in the House. 

Taxpayer-funded union time, with the acronym TFUT, has long been a part of government, and Ernst’s office has exposed abuses of the practice in the past. 

Ernst and the DOGE Caucus are working with the Trump administration’s newly formed temporary Department of Government Efficiency initiative, also known as DOGE.

“Federal employees have been on a four-year vacation from work but were quite busy locking in pay raises and cushy telework agreements with the Biden administration,” Ernst said in a public statement. 

“We need a full accounting of how many work hours and tax dollars have been spent to fully understand just how broken the federal workforce is,” Ernst added. “I am getting bureaucrats back to work and serving taxpayers instead of themselves.”

Federal bureaucrats have previously claimed to be on taxpayer-funded union time while sitting in a jail cell or on vacation in Florida, according to findings by Ernst’s office. 

“Forcing the American taxpayer to foot the bill for federal union organizing is outrageous and absurd,” Perry, the House sponsor, said in a public statement. “If federal employees and resources are going to be used for union tasks, the unions should foot the bill.”

While Republicans have a majority in the House and Senate, its uncertain whether such a proposal could win over enough Senate Democrats to overcome a filibuster. 

Separately, Ernst and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, wrote to Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday to ask the Trump administration to restart the annual reports that fully account for the cost of taxpayer-funded union time.

“The Biden administration allowed federal employee unions to run wild, sticking taxpayers with the tab,” the letter says. “At the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), whistleblowers have come forward with evidence of HUD improperly paying TFUT [taxpayer-funded union time] to a number of employees, and investigations have substantiated these allegations. Specifically, a whistleblower with first-hand knowledge alleged that a HUD union official was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol during the work day and was able to successfully assert she was engaged in union activities pursuant to TFUT while in custody.”

The Daily Signal reached out to the American Federation of Goverment Employees, the nation’s largest federal employees union, for comment for this story. The union did not immediately respond.

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