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Top DOGE senator to demand lame-duck Biden agencies halt costly telework talks, citing voter mandate

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Top DOGE senator to demand lame-duck Biden agencies halt costly telework talks, citing voter mandate

The Senate’s top DOGE Republican will send 24 letters – one to each major federal agency head – demanding a halt to last-minute work-from-home negotiations before President Biden returns to Delaware.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate GOP Policy Committee, made the demand days after crafting legislation for 2025 that would “decentralize” and relocate one-third of the federal workforce outside Washington, D.C.

That bill’s lengthy acronym spells out “DRAIN THE SWAMP Act.”

Ernst said that not a single government agency’s office space is half-occupied two-plus years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, and she previously called for the Biden administration to sell off unused real estate for taxpayers’ benefit.

DOGE CAUCUS LEADER ERNST EYES RELOCATION OUT OF DC FOR ONE-THIRD OF FEDERAL WORKERS

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In her letters, Ernst laid out that 90% of telework-eligible federal employees are still working from home and only 6% report they are working on a “full-time basis.” 

Additionally, she wrote that public-sector unions are purportedly “dictating personnel policy” without regard to federal directives from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), which is running up a massive tab and leading to wastes of time, space and money.

“The union bosses are rushing to lock in last minute, lavish long-term deals with the lame-duck Biden administration—extending beyond President Trump’s next term in office—guaranteeing that bureaucrats can stay at home for another four years or longer,” Ernst wrote in one letter prepped for Office of Personnel Management director Robert Shriver III.

“Apparently, protecting telework perks for public employees is a higher priority than showing up to serve American taxpayers,” she wrote, calling Biden’s submission to union demands “shocking and unacceptable.”

She noted it was a similarly liberal president who vociferously opposed unionization of public employees in the first place, as Democrat Franklin Roosevelt wrote in a letter to a union steward declining a 1937 invitation to a national federal employee union convention.

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“All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” Roosevelt said.

TOP DOGE SENATOR DEMANDS ANSWERS ON PLAN TO EXHAUST CHIPS ACT FUNDS BEFORE TRUMP ARRIVES

Fox News Digital previewed the DOGE Caucus’s new logo along with an email hotline for Americans to send suggestions on government efficiency. (Fox News Digital)

“It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government employee organizations.”

“The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress.”

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Ernst suggested federal workers and their union representatives have forgotten Roosevelt’s warning, citing the last-minute push to ratify collective bargaining agreements and telework privilege pacts before President-elect Donald Trump can begin his oversight endeavors through DOGE.

The lawmaker told Fox News Digital on Thursday that her report cited in the letters “exposed that telework abuse is so rampant in Washington that there are more reindeer on Santa’s sleigh than employees showing up at the Department of Energy headquarters.”

“As if that was not bad enough, President Biden is working hand in hand with unions to help ink more last-minute contracts allowing for telework privileges for years. Bureaucrats have forgotten their job is to serve the public, and I am happy to remind them with a little Christmas cheer.”

In the letter, Ernst pointed out situations she said show union bosses and career agency management have the “government wrapped around their finger.”

In the letters, she embedded a photo of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley while he was serving as Biden’s Social Security Administration chief and who was wearing a Captain America T-shirt alongside a purported union official at a party.

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Ernst cited news reports of O’Malley going to Florida to party with union members before endorsing a contract preventing easy reduction of work-from-home ability.

She said O’Malley spent the trip “crooning” Irish ballads on his guitar and drinking alcohol.

“This buddy-buddy relationship between the Social Security Commissioner and the union bosses representing his workforce during what is supposed to be a negotiation resulted in a contract unbelievably slanted towards the union and against the interests of taxpayers and the mission of the agency,” she said.

In another case, she pointed to Housing & Urban Development employees who may not have deserved the TFUT or “taxpayer-funded union time” they filed for.

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Former Baltimore mayor and ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (Reuters)

One such worker successfully claimed compensation while in jail.

Ernst demanded the agencies report data on TFUT claims and payouts, unused or underused real estate holdings designated for use through collective bargaining, and any cases of each agency permitting unions or their employees to use department property at a discount or for free.

“Giving bureaucrats another four-year vacation from the office is unacceptable. Bureaucrats have had enough gap years—it’s time to get them back to work,” she said.

Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

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Detroit, MI

Would Detroit Lions Salary Cap Be Wrecked If Terrion Arnold Gets Cut?

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Would Detroit Lions Salary Cap Be Wrecked If Terrion Arnold Gets Cut?


The Detroit Lions are facing a significant dilemma regarding a player selected in the first-round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

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Cornerback Terrion Arnold is facing multiple felony charges stemming from an alleged robbery and kidnapping plot in Florida.

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When drafted, the former Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back signed a four-year, $14,343,710 contract. The agreement included a $7,251,788 signing bonus and an average salary of $3,585,928 annually.

So at this point, Arnold has been paid more than half of his contract.

This year, Arnold was set to earn a base salary of $1,273,974, which included a roster bonus of $825,000. His cap hit is $3,911,921 this year and has dead cap hit of $9,127,816.

If the Lions decide to cut the 23-year-old, they would be on the hook for dead cap costs, but could in the future recoup monies based on the league’s conduct policy.

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According to Spotrac, “Lions Terrion Arnold has 2-years, $4.8 M (guaranteed) remaining on his rookie contract, plus a potential 5th-year option for the 2028 season. Any suspension stemming from a violation of the league’s conduct polict would void the guarantees.”

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In the short term, cutting Arnold is not significantly beneficial. The organization could save money in the future depending on if his decisions are deemed to have breech the clauses in his first NFL contract.

Detroit has options at the cornerback position if Arnold is no longer a part of the organization. Nick Whiteside, Rock Ya-Sin, Keith Abney and Ennis Rakestraw are all in the mix to earn playing time opposite of veteran D.J. Reed.

“It’s just the depth. Like, you’ve got guys that have played in games and that’s what you want. It’s not like you’re guessing on what you’re getting. You know what you’re going to get from those guys and so another year in the system, another year competing, he’s (Whiteside) going to be better,” said defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend. “And just that’s the thing about the NFL, you got to have guys who go out there and compete and he’s another one that’s capable of playing and it’s going to push everybody else in the room.”

Currently, the team has $19,338,873 (17th) available in cap space, based on the top-51 players on the roster.

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Milwaukee, WI

Preparing for move, museum has already packed more than 600,000 items

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Preparing for move, museum has already packed more than 600,000 items


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The Milwaukee Public Museum has now packed 600,000 items from its collection of 4 million as the staff prepares to move them into their new home: The Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin at 1310 N. 6th St.

The staff could still be working through 2027 to move the remaining items, said Collections Move Project Manager Sara Podejko on June 24.

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“We will continue packing here even after the future museum opens,” Podejko said.

According to the museum’s June report to the County Board’s committee on parks and culture, construction continues to move along on track, and the new site is expected to open mid-way through 2027.

About half of the total collection has already been inventoried, a painstaking process that has given the museum the opportunity to streamline its electronic storage system.

“There’s been a lot of work ongoing in the collections departments prior to digitize their material, but not everything was. And so, a real upside to this move is that we are able to not only inventory, but barcode all of our specimens,” Podejko said.

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That barcode allows collection move technicians to easily input items into an inventory spreadsheet and immediately relocate them.

“It kind of eliminates some human error, which is really important when you’re dealing with four million things,” Podejko said.

Twenty-nine staff members are facilitating the move, including the technicians who were hired and trained specifically to move the artifacts.

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“Every time they pack an object, they first assess it for its condition, weaknesses, areas of stability, and then they adapt the pack to that object itself,” Podejko said.

Many of the technicians are also recent graduates and early professionals looking to break into the museum collections scene.

“Collections can be difficult to get into and a job like this kind of gives them (a) foot in the door,” Podejko said.

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The public museum’s current facility has continued to face structural challenges amid the move. In January, a passenger elevator failed and was out of service for two months. The only elevator was a small one for wheelchairs, which led to wait times as long as 30 minutes. During that time, an escalator was also taken out of service for repairs.

The museum’s 350-ton water-cooled chiller is also close to failure and needs bearing replacement to keep it functioning throughout the summer.



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Minneapolis, MN

MN weather: Pleasant Thursday before major heat arrives

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MN weather: Pleasant Thursday before major heat arrives


Sunshine and comfortable temperatures return Thursday before a weekend warm-up sends highs into the 90s. Heat index values could reach the triple digits early next week. FOX 9 meteorologist Jared Piepenburg has the forecast.

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