Empty federal offices 'are costing taxpayers $2.8 MILLION a DAY'

Federal workers still refusing to return to the office after the pandemic are costing U.S. taxpayers an estimated $2.5 million a day. 

Last week, a bombshell report revealed that all federal agencies are less than 50 percent occupied, six months after the COVID emergency was declared over.

A new projection suggests these deserted buildings in the U.S. government's sprawling portfolio are leaving a huge bill. 

Meanwhile, federal workers have capitalized on relaxed telework policies by taking meetings in bathtubs, signing off early to go to happy hour and being on the clock during rounds of golf.

The federal government spends $2 billion a year maintaining its network of offices and over $5 billion annually in leases.

Based on that projection, if half of them are empty, it would cost $2.5 million a day, President of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance David Williams told DailyMail.com.

'There is no excuse for this because this is an easy bipartisan problem to fix,' Williams added. 

'It just takes a little commonsense to consolidate and get rid of excess space. The private sector does it all of the time, so there is no excuse for the federal government not to do this.'

According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) memo to Sen. Joni Ernst, obtained by DailyMail.com last week, not a single federal agency has over half of its workforce in the office. 

The shocking findings come after Biden formally ended the COVID-19 emergency in May and his chief of staff urged the return of the federal bureaucracy to in-person work by the fall. 

He also famously declared the pandemic 'over' in September 2022, surprising members of his own team.

The data shows an 'estimated three-month average space utilization' statistics that were collected for 24 agencies during one-week periods in January, February and March 2023.

The agency with the greatest percentage of in-office staff for the three months was the State Department at 49 percent. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) took home the prize for the least space utilization (7 percent).

The Social Security Administration tied HUD at 7 percent utilization, followed by the the Small Business Administration at 9 percent. 

The General Services Administration (GSA) tied the Department of Agriculture at a measly 11 percent.

'The Department of Housing and Urban Development's abandoned building is a sad symbol of the failure of the Biden administration,' Ernst told DailyMail.com in an exclusive statement. 

'Under Bidenflation, buying and renting is a whole lot more expensive, and instead of getting the homeless off the streets, no one is even home at HUD,' she continued. 

The senator from Iowa is calling for the 'end' of the Biden administration allowing federal buildings to remain vacant at the taxpayers' expense.

She has previously called for the administration to sell off unused space and return the money to taxpayers. 

Congress has been stepping up oversight of government agencies and their telework policies, now that it has been months since President Biden formally ended the COVID-19 emergency. 

Ernst and other lawmakers say billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted based on unused federal office space. 

More than 75 percent of the available office space at 17 different federal agencies is still empty, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). 

And according to a recent letter from the General Services Administration (GSA) obtained by DailyMail.com last month, the agency says the use of office space is being scrutinized.

GSA was found to have on 11 percent occupation in the memo. 

'My office will devote attention to GSA's space utilization in our future oversight efforts,' Inspector General Robert Erickson wrote at the end of September.

'For example, we are currently considering an audit to examine whether GSA has appropriately evaluated its physical space needs and utilization to consider increased employee telework and remote positions,' wrote Erickson. 

The GSA also acknowledged 'challenges' due to space utilization in a new hybrid work model.

Federal employees have taken advantage of work from home policies in a variety of ways.

Damning reports reveal government employees have been in meetings while taking bubble baths, still got paid while on the golf course and attended happy hours while on the clock. 

This has been occurring at the same time the backlog of passports continues and veterans have to wait months for appointments with their doctors.

Biden's Chief of Staff Jeff Zients issued a directive ordering all federal employees to return to the office this fall after years of remote work.

'We are returning to in-person work because it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people,' Zients said in a letter to all Cabinet heads, adding that it is a 'priority of the president.'

But it is unclear how many total federal employees continue to telework - a statistic that Republicans have demanded to no avail.