Hoist on The Entitlement Petard

Federal employees are used to defying and waiting out reform- or change-minded administrations. That is no longer working. This administration is moving at non-government speeds to make changes. And the learned behavior of entitlement thinking by government employees is now a weakness rather than an effective survival tool.

There is a case study in the Department of Agriculture. During the COVID fiasco, the great majority of federal office workers worked remotely. Some even moved out of the DC area while continuing to be employed at a DC location. (That is legally problematic for some because federal compensation is pegged to the cost-of-living of the area where the job is based.) Prior to Trump's recent order, the new Secretary of Agriculture had directed a return to the office. This was largely ignored, with section supervisors offering compromises such as appearance at intervals.

The Department of Agriculture is an enormous enterprise. At one of its largest single facilities on Independence Ave, there is office space for 6,000. It was almost entirely in use pre-COVID. However, more recently, the average attendance was 800 out of 4,600 despite attendance directives.

In a move far more characteristic of corporate America than the federal government, the secretary announced it was no longer justified to keep an office building the size of a city block if it was unused; therefore it was to be returned to GSA. And with no space for those positions, the workers could either opt to move to one of the department's five regional facilities or quit.

If those folks had simply returned to work when ordered, the secretary could not have had the opening to do this, nor could she have as easily changed the terms and location of their employment.

There is a formal comment period open for another two weeks, and some judge will likely be recruited to rule that the elected executive has no authority to run the executive branch. This may temporarily delay the move but not undo it. If the administration can persist in similar efforts, it will not only make government leaner and more efficient but also eliminate toxic presumptions.