Senate Committee Joins House in Approving Expanded Telecommuting

A Senate committee this week approved a bill that would make it possible for more federal employees to become telecommuters, acting a week after supporters of at-home work introduced similar legislation in the House.

The bills would encourage agencies to allow eligible employees to telecommute four days a month, on average.

The chief sponsors in the Senate, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.), said that expanded telecommuting in the government would get cars off the road, reducing energy costs and cutting pollution. About 6.6 percent of federal employees are regular telecommuters, according to data collected in 2005.

Under the bill, the determination of who may telecommute would be left to agencies, which would have to tell employees whether they were eligible to work at home or at a remote site.

Agencies would appoint telework management officers, draw up telecommuting policies and provide training to employees and managers, according to the bill. Each agency would "ensure that telework does not diminish employee performance or agency operations," the bill said.

Sens. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) and George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) are co-sponsors for the Stevens-Landrieu bill, which was approved Wednesday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Reps. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) and John P. Sarbanes (D-Md.) are chief sponsors of the House version.

Senators to Push for IG Bill

A bipartisan group of senators plan to push for a vote before the end of the year on legislation that would strengthen inspectors general.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, on a voice vote Wednesday, approved a bill that would require inspectors general to have expertise in certain fields, such as auditing, law and management, and to post their audits and investigative reports on their agency Web sites within three days of their release.

The bill also would set the pay of inspectors general at 3 percent above Level III of the Executive Schedule, which sets salaries for the most senior positions in the government and is adjusted annually. Currently, Level III appointees make $154,600 a year.

Chief sponsors of the bill are Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). McCaskill said she was optimistic "that we will be able to get this legislation through Congress quickly and in a truly bipartisan fashion. Our tax dollars are at stake if we don't."

Similar legislation, introduced by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), was approved by the House, 404 to 11, on Oct. 3.

Democrats, in particular, have expressed concern that some inspectors general, who are supposed to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse in their agencies, are too wary of crossing their agency heads.