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.

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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.

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

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"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."

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.

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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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.

President Biden was blasted for "quiet quitting" and failing to lead his fellow Democrats amid the ongoing fiscal battle in Congress that could lead to a government shutdown just days before Christmas.

Text of the 1,500-page funding bill needed to keep the government operating as usual was released on Tuesday evening, just three days before the current funding cycle ends. However, President-elect Trump threw a wrench in lawmakers' plans after he demanded Republicans renegotiate the bill to include an increase in the debt ceiling and a reduction in certain Democratic spending initiatives, which Trump described as "Democrat giveaways."

Biden was home in Wilmington, Delaware, attending a memorial service for his late ex-wife and baby daughter, when news of Trump's demands came down. He will return to the nation's capital later Thursday afternoon. 

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Thus far, the lame-duck president has not commented on the ongoing spending battle in Congress, but on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre released a statement deriding Trump for "playing politics."

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House to inquire whether Biden expects to speak about the legislative battle, but did not receive a response.

"Presidents are elected to four-year terms, but Joe Biden long ago ceded the mantle of leadership and the responsibilities of governing. While the rest of the country is busy at work in the last week before Christmas, the president is on vacation in Delaware and the country he ostensibly still oversees is careening toward a fiscal cliff," GOP strategist Colin Reed said.

Reed added that it was "not surprising" to him that Biden's administration "is seemingly content to slink away before their term even ends." Reed said it wasn't surprising either that Americans "voted for a new direction last month."

Meanwhile, in addition to Republicans, former aides to former President Obama, a cohort known as the "Obama bros" who run a popular liberal-leaning podcast, also slammed Biden for his absence, telling listeners of their podcast this week that it is becoming "easier and easier to forget" that Trump isn't in the White House yet. A recent report from The New York Times also noted that Biden has been "a little older and a little slower" in the final days of his presidency.   

"I can’t quite figure it out. He seems to be doing some sort of ‘quiet quitting,’" GOP campaign expert David Kochel said.

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Kochel pointed out that in addition to being absent amid the government spending fight, Biden was also absent at the reopening ceremony for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which dozens of heads of state attended.

"For the country’s second Catholic president to skip the reopening of Notre Dame, while Trump and Jill Biden attended, one has to wonder if he’s just basically given up," Kochel questioned. "That said, does he even possess the leadership skills and acuity at this point to have any real impact on the government funding issue? I doubt it."

Biden's Cabinet officials seemingly feel different, however. Several of them reiterated their faith in Biden's ability to fulfill his duties for the remainder of his lame-duck presidency this week, despite concerns over his old age and apparent diminished cognitive functioning.  

"Maybe it’s for the best he just fades into the woodwork. It is truly bizarre, though, how much he has disappeared. I think even Democrats are scratching their heads," Kochel said.

Michael Chamberlain, director of ethics watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust, said a lack of leadership from Biden "has essentially been the Biden-Harris administration's MO from nearly the beginning."

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"This vacuum has been evident on ethics and transparency, as well as scientific integrity, and other areas. The administration that was supposed to be a ‘return to normalcy,’ promising to be the most ethical and transparent in history, has proven to be anything but," Chamberlain said. "Sadly, the abdication of leadership in these spaces seems to have expanded to encompass every aspect of the presidency."

Earlier this month, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients sent a memo to staff outlining the final priorities for the Biden administration during its last days before Trump takes over. "Let’s finish strong," he said. 

After a number of key legislative priorities related to cracking down on China failed to make it into the yearly defense bill, Republicans are working on ways to get them signed into law before the end of the year. 

On Wednesday, the House will vote on the sprawling 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets policy plans for the Pentagon’s $895 billion budget. That legislation was negotiated between Republican and Democratic leadership in both the House and Senate and typically enjoys wide bipartisan support. 

And while the package will not advance legislation aimed at cracking down on U.S. dollars flowing toward Chinese Communist Party-affiliated companies, Republicans will push to include those provisions, which are a key priority for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in other must-pass legislation.

With a government funding deadline in 10 days, those measures could be included in a continuing resolution (CR), which would punt the funding deadline down the road and keep budgets at FY 2024 levels, multiple sources familiar with negotiations confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

"During the course of negotiations on the annual defense bill, significant progress was made towards achieving consensus on provisions to counter China and strengthen our economic security. That momentum remains and more time is needed to get that important work done with the goal of passage before the end of the year," Johnson said in a statement. 

One provision that was left out would prevent the U.S. from investing in the development of military technologies, a way to codify a rule put forward by President Biden’s Treasury Department.

The rule prohibits U.S. financing of some China-based ventures and requires Americans to notify the government of their involvement in others. 

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It restricts and monitors U.S. investments in artificial intelligence, computer chips and quantum computing, all of which have a dual use in the defense and commercial sectors. 

The rule seeks to limit the access "countries of concern," like China, including Hong Kong and Macao, have to U.S. dollars to fund the development of high-level technologies like next-generation missile systems and fighter jets they could then utilize for their own military. It's set to take effect Jan. 2.  

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., demanded that outbound investments piece not be included in the negotiated NDAA, three sources familiar with the negotiations confirmed. 

Some mused that Democrats put up a fight over China provisions because they were frustrated with another provision Republicans insisted on including: a ban on military health care providers from paying for transgender operations like sex changes for dependent minors if it would leave them sterile.

Politico was first to report about the back-and-forth. 

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he would not vote for the legislation – which includes big pay raises for junior troops – over the transgender provision. 

And in a relief for Chinese biotechnology companies, the Biosecure Act, which prohibits the U.S. government from contracting with companies that do business with a "biotechnology company of concern," has been left out of the NDAA. 

Three sources familiar with the negotiations told Fox News Digital that Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., stood in the way of the legislation’s inclusion in the negotiated defense bill.

Raskin could not be reached for comment on his opposition. 

McGovern opposed the bill when it came up for a stand-alone vote in the House. 

"The Biosecure Act, is a weak bill, and as written, it could actually make the problem even worse," he said in a statement. 

"First, naming specific companies will create a ‘whack-a-mole’ situation where entities can change their name and reincorporate to evade sanctions," he went on. "Second, it’s totally wrong to call out specific companies without any formal investigation or interagency process – that might be how they do things in the [People's Republic of China], but this is the United States of America where we ought to have a thorough, independent investigation."

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In September, Fox News Digital reported that lawmakers were aware of a machine operated by a Chinese military company in use at the nation’s most secretive government laboratories. 

The machine operated by Chinese biotech company BGI is in use at the Los Alamos lab in New Mexico. 

BGI, among other companies, is included in a ban in the Biosecure Act. 

Also among them is WuXi Biologics, a company that planned to build a $300 million biomedical plant in McGovern’s district. 

Attaching the China outbound investment provision and the Biosecure Act to must-pass legislation would ensure it doesn’t die in the Democratic-led Senate the way House GOP-led bills often do. 

Republican tax hawks are worried that key Trump administration tax policies could expire at the end of 2025 if congressional leaders follow through on a plan to break up a massive conservative budget bill into two parts.

Reconciliation is a way to fast-track legislation on issues like taxes, the debt limit and federal spending by bypassing the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for passage, instead lowering it to a simple 51-vote majority.

It is a process normally used once per year, but incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., floated a plan earlier this month to split Republicans' reconciliation priorities into two bills – one dealing with the border and defense and a second aimed at implementing President-elect Donald Trump's tax policy. The plan was also backed by top Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

However, Republicans on the House Ways & Means Committee, including Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., are concerned it could put their goals – such as preserving Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – out of reach.

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"I think because we’ve already had some of the provisions expire or sunset, and the remainder of the legislation expires at the end of 2025, that waiting toward the second half of the year puts a lot of it at risk. And there’s no way we can allow these rates to expire," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. "Americans across the board will see a tax increase, and it really jeopardizes our quest to bring manufacturing home."

She pointed out that Republicans are set to have a razor-thin majority in the next Congress.

"I do get nervous that, you know, one person can hold it up, or two people could hold it up, and I think it’s best to try to do it as early as possible," she said. "I think that’s a belief that’s shared by many of the members on Ways & Means."

Smith pointed out to Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria" that Congress has not passed two reconciliation bills into law in one year since 1997.

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"I am saying we need a reconciliation bill that has border, energy, permitting and tax. You put all four of those things together, we can deliver on that," Smith said.

He told Fox News Digital on Tuesday, "My focus all along is to make sure that we are best positioned to deliver on President Trump's tax proposals and policies."

The debate is putting top Republicans who will be in charge of crafting fiscal policy next year at odds, while both argue they are fighting for Trump's agenda.

Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said Smith was doing an "excellent job" and echoed concerns about a slim margin.

"I think it is a big challenge. We have a very slim majority, and there are at least, I believe, two people, if not three of the Republicans, who voted against it are still here," he said.

Thune and other Republicans who support the two-track plan argued that taxes are more complex of an issue and would take longer to hash out.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told "Special Report" host Bret Baier on Tuesday night, "There probably will be at least two reconciliation packages. So, the determination right now is where does the tax piece fit and do we do that first out of the gates, or do you wait a couple of months to get all that done? Because it can be very complicated."

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House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., similarly argued, "I think we need to prove to the American people that we can actually defend our borders… The bottom line is I think they need to be on almost parallel tracks. But I do believe that taxes are much more complicated."

However, a senior House GOP aide asked what was complex about extending tax provisions that were already put in place in 2017.

"It’s confusing — given that extending the Trump tax cuts has been on the agenda for seven years and is a central campaign promise of [Trump's], how can including them in a reconciliation bill require extra time and consideration by Senate Republicans, many of whom have already pledged their support?" the aide posed.

The discussion is a preview of what Washington will look like next year when Republicans hold the White House and both congressional chambers.

If Republicans are unable to harness enough momentum to pass a tax bill next year, Americans across the country could see their taxes rise.

Ways & Means member Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said it "could be more difficult" to pass a tax bill if it's separated from the first reconciliation bill, but said he was "not at all concerned" about Republicans coming to an agreement.

Another member of the committee, Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kan., agreed with the committee chair that one bill "would be a much better solution for us to work and get that process done."

However, Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., also on the panel, did not give insight into his stance but said he was optimistic.

"I think this reconciliation process will be very different than what we did back in 2017, because I think members are better prepared, committees are better prepared, and I think the president's going to be much better prepared," he said. "So I wouldn't get too worked up over a division of the plans right now."

Outgoing Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen said that she's "concerned about fiscal sustainability" and thinks the deficit must be decreased.

She made the comments during the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit after Greg Ip, chief economic commentator for the outlet, noted that President Joe Biden and Yellen are leaving behind a big budget deficit. "Are you sorry you couldn't make more progress on that?" he asked. Ip also asked Yellen how much risk the issue presents to the economy.

"Well I am concerned about fiscal sustainability. And I am sorry that we haven't made more progress. I believe that the deficit needs to be brought down, especially now that we're in an environment of higher interest rates," Yellen replied. 

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Yellen helmed the Treasury Department during President Joe Biden's White House tenure, but will soon step down as Biden's term ends next month.

In that time, the already-massive national debt continued soaring to new heights, and has now surpassed $36 trillion.

"Today, the U.S. economy is in strong shape, with a robust labor market and solid economic growth. Tune in as I join @Greg_Ip at the @WSJ CEO Council Summit to discuss the economic progress we have made under the leadership of @POTUS and @VP," Yellen declared in a post on X.

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Trump decisively defeated Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential contest, winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote.

The president-elect tapped Scott Bessent to serve as Treasury Department secretary in his upcoming administration.

"Scott is widely respected as one of the World's foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists," Trump said in a statement last month.

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Yellen previously served as chair of the Federal Reserve Board of governors from early February 2014 through early February 2018.

Former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker spoke out after a county judge in Madison struck down major parts of a 2011 law geared toward public employee unions. 

Dane County Judge Jacob Frost ruled that the provisions of a law known as Act 10, which selectively exempt certain public workers from its restrictions on unionization and collective bargaining, are unconstitutional. The controversial law sought to close a budget deficit by limiting collective bargaining, thereby moderating public workers' benefits that Walker said at the time helped solve a fiscal situation he was required to address.

The original passage in 2011 led to weekslong protests inside the state Capitol, and even saw legislative Democrats flee to neighboring Illinois to prevent Republicans from reaching a quorum to vote on it. Walker later survived a 2012 recall election over the law's passage and rode his success into a decent showing in the 2016 presidential race, where he eventually bowed out of the primary that ultimately went to Donald Trump. 

On Tuesday, Walker, who currently leads the conservative-training nonprofit Young America's Foundation (YAF), said his law simply took power "out of the hands of the big union bosses and put it firmly into the hands of the hardworking taxpayers…"

"And what this court decision did as brazen political action was to throw that out and put power back in the hands of those union bosses," he said in an interview, calling collective bargaining not a right but an "expensive entitlement."

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Asked about Frost’s assertion that disparate treatment of collective bargaining rights of certain "public safety" workers and other public workers was unconstitutional, Walker said it was a "bogus political argument." 

Frost stripped more than 60 sections of the law from the books.

The law was upheld multiple times at the state and federal levels, Walker replied, adding a new issue is that of a potentially-growing "liberal activist majority" on the officially nonpartisan Wisconsin Supreme Court that may hear any appeal of the ruling.

Walker said that if appealed, the first place the case will land is in Waukesha court, which he predicted would overturn Frost. But a subsequent appeal by the left would bring it before the state’s high bench.

"It’s all the more reason why the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin this spring (2025) is more important than ever," he said.

Walker went on to discuss the roots of Act 10, and how it was his way of abiding by Wisconsin’s balanced-budget requirement. He noted the original name was the "Budget Repair Act" and that a prior Democratic administration instead chose to cut funding for municipalities, which instead resulted in layoffs.

Instead of risking job loss or Medicare cuts, Walker opted to require public workers to contribute more to their entitlements in return for keeping their pensions solvent.

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In addition, Wisconsin Senate President Chris Kapenga echoed Walker’s claim that partisan politics played a role in the ruling:

"[I]t’s proof there is very little justice left in our justice system. Wisconsin's legislature should be discussing impeachment, as we are the only check on their power," said Kapenga, R-Oconomowoc.

"Believing Dane County judges and the liberal majority in our state Supreme Court are independent jurists is almost as far-fetched as believing the border is secure, inflation's not a problem, or [President Biden] won't pardon his son."

"The left keeps telling us, ‘Don't believe what you see’ — Wisconsinites see right through it," he said.

As for Walker’s current role as president of YAF, he said his organization is preparing for conservative leadership to return to Washington as he brought it to Madison in 2010.

Walker said he is thrilled by the prospect of seeing many YAF alumni in the new Trump administration, including Stephen Miller, a top aide to Trump and formerly ex-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

Sergio Gor, a longtime aide to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was named Trump’s head of presidential personnel last month. Walker praised Gor's prior work leading YAF’s George Washington University chapter.

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"Four years ago, younger voters sided with Biden by 25 points," Walker said. "This election, that shrunk right down to 5 or 6 points. And most interestingly, young men four years ago went with Biden by 15 points. In this election, they shifted to Trump by 14. What we need to do is lock that in."