WATCH: Biden’s well being secretary refuses to reply questions on federal worker telecommute advantages

Well being and Human Providers (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday refused a number of occasions to reply questions on what proportion of his workforce continues to be teleworking, greater than three years after the COVID pandemic and at a time when many places of work have returned to work.

At a finances listening to on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Invoice Cassidy, R-La., requested Becerra repeatedly what number of HHS staff are nonetheless working from house, however obtained nowhere.

“This can be a image taken at 10:40 am final Monday at HHS headquarters. It’s like empty,” Cassidy stated as he confirmed an image of an empty lot. Cassidy later clarified it’s the car parking zone for the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers headquarters.

“Are you able to give a breakdown of what number of full-time staff are at their desk in considered one of these buildings each day?” Cassidy requested.

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“Senator, if you check out the workforce at HHS, and we’re near 90,000 all through the nation, and dealing in numerous components of the nation, some right here at headquarters… by the best way, headquarters…”

“I’ve obtained restricted time,” Cassidy interrupted. “So inform me, of what p.c of the staff are at their desk… on any given day?”

“Our of us are working full time,” Becerra stated.

“No, however what number of are at their desk versus being at house, or someplace else, a espresso store or no matter?” Cassidy tried once more.

“What we be certain that we care about is that they’re performing they usually’re delivering…” Becerra dodged.

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“That’s not likely answering my query, as a result of I do know one of the best practices now in lots of industries is to carry individuals again in. So is it 5%, is it 10%, is it 1%? What number of of us are literally sitting at their desk in a authorities constructing when they’re working full time each day?” Cassidy tried for the final time.

“And we’ve of us who, as they’re working full time…” Becerra began earlier than being interrupted.

“Clearly, sir, you don’t need to reply that query, and I don’t imply to be impolite, however you don’t, and that type of begs that the reply is probably not flattering,” Cassidy stated.

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Cassidy additionally pressed Becerra on whether or not HHS has digital non-public community (VPN) knowledge from staff’ computer systems that present they’re working from house, but additionally obtained no reply from Becerra.

“Do you might have that VPN knowledge? As a result of initially when the pandemic began, we noticed VPN knowledge that confirmed a double-digit variety of staff weren’t turning on their VPN each day, and so it suggests they weren’t accessing emails, for instance?”

“I can attempt to get again to you on that,” Becerra stated.

This text was initially revealed by foxnews.com. Learn the original article here.