[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 105 (Thursday, July 15, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   TELEWORK IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 2010

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 14, 2010

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Telework 
Improvements Act of 2010, and thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I have been pleased to work with the gentleman from Maryland, Mr. 
Sarbanes, in sponsoring this legislation and thank him for his tireless 
efforts. I also appreciate the persistent work of the gentleman from 
New York, Mr. Towns, on this matter.
  There are several points I would like to make, especially to my side 
of the aisle.
  H.R. 1722 does not authorize any new appropriations of taxpayer 
funds. The Congressional Budget Office in April scored this legislation 
as deficit-neutral.
  CBO estimated that the implementation costs of $30 million over 5 
years, assuming the appropriations of necessary funds, will come from 
developing regulations to implement telework programs, reporting and 
training costs. As my colleagues know, however, such costs are 
routinely absorbed by current administrative budgets in each agency.
  Let me repeat--this legislation is deficit- neutral and does not 
authorize any new appropriations.
  I have been actively engaged in the telework issue for over 20 years 
and know for a fact that telework saves money.
  The limited administrative costs will be more than offset when a 
robust telework program is fully integrated into the federal 
government's Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP).
  During February's snow storm, when the government was shut down for 
four days, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) estimated that 
roughly 30 percent of eligible federal workers in the metropolitan D.C. 
area teleworked.
  Rather than absorbing the almost $30 million in salaries for those 
employees for each day that it was closed, the federal government 
reaped the rewards of telework because those employees were productive 
and continued the work of the federal government when they couldn't 
reach their regular workplaces.
  The government must be able to function during an emergency or 
natural disaster. Currently, only 56 percent of government agencies 
have formally included telework in their COOP plans. H.R. 1722 would 
change that policy.
  What if there is another terrorist attack? Telework was vital to 
ensuring that our government continued to function after 9/11.
  Or what if the ``big one'' earthquake hits California? Some 700,000 
of the one million workers displaced by the 1989 Loma Prieta 
earthquake--the World Series earthquake--teleworked from their homes or 
nearby locations, including federal workers.
  What happens when snowmageddon hits the nation's capital again? Those 
federal employees who were eligible to telework recognized that the 
government must continue to function and that people in other parts of 
our nation were counting on them to do their jobs.
  Snowstorms or hurricanes or tornados should not prevent the most 
powerful nation on earth from functioning. We must fully embrace new 
technologies to keep the government working and telework is the ideal 
way to keep employees on the job.
  Telework also provides other obvious benefits, from reducing traffic 
congestion, air pollution, gasoline consumption and our dependency on 
foreign oil to allowing individuals and working parents the flexibility 
to meet everyday demands outside of work.
  Employers with a strong telework option report fewer days used by 
employees for sick leave, better worker retention, higher productivity, 
and increased morale. They also report overhead savings in office 
space.
  The private sector has long recognized the benefits of telework. 
Roughly 115,000 IBM employees telecommute each day with 40 percent 
operating without dedicated office space. In return, IBM saves $450 
million a year in infrastructure costs.
  One government agency, the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), has had 
a long track record on telework mirroring the success that IBM has had 
in the private sector. Some 83 percent of eligible PTO employees 
telework. These arrangements have enabled the agency to save $11 
million otherwise needed for new office space.
  No other federal agency has the policies in place to enable more than 
50 percent of eligible employees to telework at least one day a week.
  Work is something you do, not someplace you go. There is no magic 
about strapping ourselves into a car, driving sometimes up to an hour 
and a half to our workplaces, and sitting in front of our computers all 
day. Information accessed at workplaces can just as easily be accessed 
from computers in our living rooms.
  Telework is a win-win for employers and employees and the federal 
government should be the model for telework in the 21st Century 
workplace.
  H.R. 1722 is good government legislation and I urge my colleagues to 
support its passage.

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