By Stephen Barr
Wednesday, August 8, 2007; D04

The House has taken a big step toward expanding the number of federal employees who could become telecommuters and work from home at least one day a week.

During debate on an energy-efficiency bill, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) offered an amendment to require every federal agency to establish a telework policy. The measure would ensure that employees may telecommute "to the maximum extent possible without diminishing employee performance or agency operations."

The Sarbanes amendment also would require the Government Accountability Office to examine and rate the telework policies of each agency and publish a report showing how many employees were telecommuting at each agency.

Sarbanes said the amendment would help promote "a new carbon-neutral federal government" and "ensure that we in government do our part to reduce automobile emissions."

Sarbanes was joined by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) in offering the amendment, which was included on a voice vote in the House energy package that was approved, 241 to 172, on Saturday, in the hours before Congress left for an August vacation break.

For the past five years, Wolf has used his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to encourage agencies to allow employees to work from home, in hope that telecommuting could ease traffic congestion and pollution.

A government report this summer counted 119,248 federal employees as regular telecommuters -- about 6.6 percent of the federal workforce. Proponents of telecommuting contend that more federal employees could work from home if agencies were willing to adjust their office and staffing rules and modify some business practices.

The Sarbanes amendment is similar to legislation introduced in the Senate by Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.), which also assumes that many more federal employees could be deemed eligible to work from home. Sarbanes's plan would apply to executive branch employees, while the Stevens-Landrieu bill would cover the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The Senate bill should be in line for committee action in September.

Sarbanes said the amendment would provide for training and monitoring of telecommuters and would require each agency to name a full-time, senior employee as the "telework managing officer."

The measure would let agencies exempt employees from telecommuting if they handle national security or intelligence materials, or require special equipment to perform their jobs.

Proponents of telecommuting think agencies can offer a work-at-home perk without reducing productivity. They also contend that it could give agencies a way to continue basic operations in the event of a catastrophe, such as pandemic flu.

But numerous federal managers are skeptical of telecommuting's benefits. Although the Bush administration has encouraged agencies to set up telecommuting programs, a report this year by the Office of Personnel Management found that 44 agencies said they did not track or did not know what they gained by allowing employees to work from home.

The General Services Administration has announced the government's fiscal 2008 per diems -- the maximum daily reimbursement that federal employees can claim for expenses while on official travel.

The standard rate will increase to $109 from $99 a day for travel within the continental United States. The standard lodging rate for an overnight stay increased to $70, from $60, and the daily reimbursement for meals remained at $39.

In addition to raising the standard per diem by $10 for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, the GSA also set new rates for 393 destinations in the United States, such as large cities, where hotels and meals cost more.

Federal employees traveling to the Washington area, for example, will receive a maximum per diem of $265 in fiscal 2008, up from $259 this fiscal year. The 2008 rate applies except for July and August, when the per diem drops to $218.

The maximum per diem for Baltimore increased by $7, to $214, for fiscal 2008.

The GSA posted the per diem tables at http://www.gsa.gov.