Thousands of Bureaucrats Expected to Return to D.C. Workplaces Monday

Thousands of federal bureaucrats and military personnel were expected to return to work on Monday, just hours after celebrating the Super Bowl on Sunday night.

The reappearance of workers descending on Washington, DC, comes after years of a lax work-from-home policy that grew out of the pandemic under the Biden administration.

“We’re requiring them to show up to work or be terminated,” Trump said in January. “We think a very substantial number of people will not show up to work, and therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient.”

“We don’t want them to work from home, because as everyone knows, most of the time they’re not working,” he said. “They’re not very productive. And it’s unfair to the millions of people in the United States who are in fact working hard from job sites and not from home.”

“As federal employees, they must meet a high standard. They’re representing our government, they’re representing our country,” he added:

The return of federal employees to their workplaces is expected to cause traffic issues, especially in the Navy Yard neighborhood, the Hill Rag reported:

Officials say 16,800 employees could report to work Feb. 10. Those with knowledge of the situation say that not all of these were in-office even prior to the pandemic.

The Navy is expecting that between 8,000 and 10,000 vehicles will try to enter the gates beginning as early as 5 a.m. The Navy Yard entrances are on M Street at Sixth and Ninth Streets SE and on 11th Street at O and N Streets SE.

…

On Friday, District agencies were on a conference call trying to manage the tremendous increase in traffic that is expected. Residents are encouraged to use metro and avoid driving if possible.

“While we can improve throughput, parking remains limited to 4,473 spaces,” Navy officials said. Parking was already at capacity before personnel moved to working from home.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) advised workers not to try to drive into work. It encouraged the use of public transit, bicycling, and walking.

“DDOT is pleased to welcome federal workers to the District and encourages commuters to use sustainable transportation options like Metrorail, Metrobus, commuter rail, carpooling, bicycling, and walking,” a DDOT spokesperson said.

The newly implemented work-from-home policies thrilled some conservatives.

“Tens of thousands of angry liberals in D.C. had to drive to work today for the first time in four years, and their seething rage at having to go to work—for Donald Trump!—is making me laugh so hard,” Sean Davis, CEO of the Federalist, posted on X:

Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.