GOP-Led Probe Launched After Feds Scrub Webpage

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is spearheading a GOP-led investigation into the Biden administration's removal of a page that detailed the "official time" that federal employees engaged in labor union activities while on the job.

The Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) quietly scrubbed a page that accounted how many taxpayer dollars were spent on federal union activities. In its last report in 2019, OPM estimated that $135 million in taxpayer dollars went to said activities.

Further, OPM stopped providing those reports, published since 1998, and Blackburn and nine of her Republican colleagues want to know why in a letter sent to OMB on Thursday.

"We write to express concern over the decision by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to remove a page from its website that has documented, for over a decade, the amount of 'official time' taken by employees of federal agencies," Blackburn wrote, noting that 2.6 million hours were spent on union activities in 2019 instead of "assigned duties."

An OPM spokesperson told Fox News last month that the webpage and previous official time reports were deleted as part of a website reconfiguration.

"This webpage, which has been made available by various administrations since 2013, is critical for congressional oversight over the federal civil service workforce," Blackburn wrote. "Further, it is also concerning that under this Administration, OPM appears to have stopped creating official time reports which have been published since 1998.

"The American people deserve to know how much 'official time' is being conducted and funded by their hard-earned taxpayer dollars."

Blackburn gave OPM Director Kiran Ahuja one month to answer four questions, including why the agency scrubbed the page and when the official time reports will restart. Blackburn also wants an updated figure on how many millions are going toward union activities.

The letter was co-signed by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Budd, R-N.C., Mike Braun, R-Ind., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., James Lankford, R-Okla., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo.