By Josh Christenson | Published at New York Post

WASHINGTON — The federal government has forked over $4.6 billion for new furniture since October 2020, a taxpayer watchdog group’s president told a House panel Tuesday, despite just around half of all agency employees showing up for work as of last year.

OpenTheBooks CEO John Hart shared the “high cost” for every agency sprucing up during the bulk of the COVID-19 pandemic and former President Joe Biden’s term during a House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee hearing.

“That amount can buy 9.2 million American families a modest $500 kitchen table,” Hart said of the billions of dollars splurged on the “federal real estate portfolio” that was effectively “decorating and redecorating the administrative state.”

“And of course, workplaces need desks, chairs and meeting tables, and it’s true that beautiful spaces can make us more productive, but beauty at what cost and on whose dime?” he added.

The Office of Management and Budget found in May 2024 that “more than half of federal employees were either teleworking regularly or fully remote,” according to figures provided to the Oversight panel earlier this year.

Read the full story!