After a deal was struck to protect the hybrid status (no compulsory in-person work) of 42,000 federal employees until 2029, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) appeared on Fox News and went off on the Biden administration for seemingly interfering with the goals of the incoming Trump administration. This appearance from Sen. Cruz comes after Florida CFO and CD-1 hopeful Jimmy Patronis vowed to curb telework and join the DOGE Caucus if elected to Congress.
Moreover, President-elect Donald Trump’s (R) appointees to the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, took aim at federal employees over the last month who have refused to work in person and have threatened to fire them when they are instituted in January.
In Texas, we go to work in the morning.
In the federal government, only 5-10% of government employees bother to show up.
When President Trump comes into office, these federal workers are either going to come to work or be fired. pic.twitter.com/PK5AmzWIaU
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 18, 2024
“Let me ask you, the folks at home, do you all go to work in the morning? Because I'll tell you, the private sector in America, in Texas, we go to work in the morning. In the federal government, it is stunning. Five and 10% of federal workers are showing up to work,” said Sen. Cruz. “You go to a government building in Washington, DC, and they are empty. And what are Joe Biden, the Democrats saying? We want to lock it in. We want to ensure their lawsuits. Because I'll tell you Donald Trump, when he comes in with a new cabinet, they're going to tell federal workers, you either show up to work or you're fired.”
Furthermore, Sen. Cruz explained in more detail what the Biden administration is aiming to do by protecting federal workers
“What Joe Biden is trying to do is set up lawsuits for the workers who don't want to come to come to work to be able to sue the federal government, and they're basically robbing the taxpayers. And I gotta ask you, if you're a Democrat, I understand if you're a partisan Democrat, you don't like the results of this election, but is there any Democrat who has any sense of respect for democracy?” said Cruz. “Let me ask you, Sean [Hannity], have you seen one Democrat Senator say this is wrong? I don't like the results of the election, but it's wrong for the outgoing administration to try to frustrate. No, they don't care.”
In November, Cruz was reelected to the Senate for his third term in the upper chamber.
