Deborah Koff Ross: “I thank my colleague from Alabama for this legislation and for this opportunity. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R.…”

“I thank my colleague from Alabama for this legislation and for this opportunity. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 4361, the Government Reform and Improvement Act of 2016, and in support of my legislation that is included in this package, which requires the Office of Personnel Management to submit an annual report to Congress that details the use of official time by Federal employees. ``Official time'' is defined as any period of time that is used by a Federal employee to perform representational or consultative functions and during which the employee would otherwise be in a duty status. Essentially, this allows Federal employees to perform union activities during their official workdays. As the former chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy, I learned firsthand that OPM has very little accountability for the use of official time. In fact, the OPM last reported about the use of official time in the year 2012, which was 4 years ago. My bill would require the OPM to submit a detailed report annually to Congress on the use of official time by Federal employees, outlining specific types of activities or purposes for which this time was granted. For example, in 2012, Federal employees spent, roughly, 3.4 million hours conducting union business while on duty. This came at a cost of $157 million to the taxpayer. The taxpayers have a vested right to know.…”