Rep. Summer Lee in Oversight Committee: GOP Attacks on Federal Workers Threaten Critical Benefits for Vulnerable Americans
For Immediate Release
Friday, December 10, 2025
Contact:
Vaibhav Vijay, Vaibhav.Vijay@mail.house.gov | (771) 215-7243
Kyla Gill, Kyla.Gill@mail.house.gov | (412) 841-7913
Rep. Summer Lee in Oversight Committee: GOP Attacks on Federal Workers Threaten Critical Benefits for Vulnerable Americans
Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) participated in a House Oversight Committee hearing, drawing attention to how Republican policies targeting federal workers and telework directly jeopardize the delivery of essential benefits to millions of Americans.
Rep. Lee condemned the Republican agenda to dismantle effective telework policies, saying:
“How are we going to talk about government efficiency while pushing for policies that keep folks from executing their jobs?”
She pointed out the deliberate cruelty behind these attacks, stating:
“This hearing does nothing more than demonstrate their cruelty, and that’s always been the point. They are telling us how little they view government workers and the people of the DC area. They are showing us how low they regard the people of DC, whether it’s because they are government workers or because they are majority Black.”
Rep. Lee also exposed the GOP’s misplaced priorities, emphasizing:
“We’ve already heard, over and over again, that telework improves productivity, attracts diverse talent, and makes it easier for veterans, military spouses, mothers, and those with disabilities to work. Yet every three weeks, Republicans attack what we already know is an efficient way to work.”
Programs like Social Security, which keep 22 million Americans out of poverty—including nearly 15 million seniors and 1 million children—are particularly vulnerable to Republican efforts to dismantle the federal workforce. President-elect Trump and Congressional Republicans have doubled down on efforts to kneecap federal agencies, including reviving the controversial Schedule F policy, which would replace experienced, nonpartisan civil servants with political loyalists. Additionally, plans to relocate up to 100,000 federal jobs out of Washington, D.C., further threaten to destabilize essential government functions.
Rep. Lee highlighted the importance of telework as a proven, efficient solution to support federal workers and enhance productivity. Telework policies have increased efficiency, saved time, and opened the door for veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities to participate in the federal workforce. Despite these benefits, Republicans continue to scapegoat telework for inefficiencies caused by their own budget cuts, including a $450 million slash to the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget in 2025.
Federal workers have faced relentless attacks from Republican leaders, including promises from President-elect Trump to revive the controversial Schedule F policy. This policy would replace nonpartisan experts with political loyalists, undermining the integrity and efficiency of federal agencies. Additionally, Republican officials have pledged to relocate up to 100,000 federal jobs out of Washington, D.C., forcing workers to choose between their livelihoods and their communities.
In her remarks, Rep. Lee pointed to telework as a proven, efficient tool for retaining federal workers and improving productivity. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently found that telework programs increased the available talent pool for federal jobs while improving productivity, with the Social Security Administration reporting a 6.2% productivity increase in the last year alone.
Despite this evidence, Congressional Republicans and allies like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have pushed to roll back telework programs, falsely blaming them for inefficiencies caused by the GOP’s own budget cuts. In 2025, House Republicans slashed the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget by $450 million, compounding the agency’s struggles to serve a record-high number of beneficiaries with record-low staffing levels.
Rep. Lee concluded by calling for an end to these harmful policies and a renewed focus on supporting federal workers to ensure critical services remain accessible to the American people.
Full Line of Questioning
“Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My Republican colleagues really want to kick off this Congress disparaging our federal workers and unions with yet another hearing on telework. They seem to be convinced that you have to be physically present in an office to do your job despite all the evidence we’ve already heard against it.
From one side of their mouth, they say that people need to work more but then out of the other side they want to limit how you can work and where you can work.
That’s just plain anti-work.
So since Republicans are so obsessed with efficiency that they created a subcommittee around it, let’s talk about it. I think my Republican colleagues need to face some hard truths that some workers are going to be more efficient at home. Some are also going to get more work done or even work more hours by working from home. They waste less time too when they’re not commuting into the office.
How are we going to talk about government efficiency while pushing for policies that keep folks from executing their jobs?
I do actually want to work on government efficiency and think it’s important, but it’s not very efficient that we’re probably going to do this same hearing seven more times. These attacks on these federal workers are repetitive and nothing more than grandstanding.
You have the trifecta, you should have nothing more to complain about, so we should be able to stop wasting time on this type of nonsense.
This hearing does nothing more than demonstrate their cruelty, and that’s always been the point. They are telling us how little they view government workers and the people of the DC area. They are showing us how low they regard the people of DC, whether it’s because they are government workers or because they are majority Black.
Republicans are letting an unelected multi-billionaire run amok and are attacking our government workers straight out of the gate. How is that efficient?
These people want to do their jobs. They want to do their jobs well and efficiently. But every three weeks Republicans come out and attack what we already know is an efficient way to work.
And why do we know that? Because we’ve heard the testimony throughout all of last Congress in this Committee.
Testimony that told us how work from home policies don’t impact efficiency, how allowing telework attracts diverse, higher quality talent, how it makes it easier for our veterans and military spouses and mothers and those with disabilities to work. We have already determined over and over and over again that these policies are better, not worse, more efficient, and less wasteful.
I honestly don’t have any questions today because I’ve already asked them all at the dozens of other hearings all last Congress.
We might as well just refer this hearing straight to the DOGE subcommittee so we can take it up four more times.
Regardless of who sits in the oval office, we have a mandate not to run a circus over here that we are failing at.
I yield back.