In a recent investigation by President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a whistleblower revealed a concerning issue involving a federal worker who moved to Florida yet still received a paycheck from Washington, D.C. This discovery raises questions about the integrity of government workers and highlights the implications remote work has on taxpayer funds. As the issue continues, it underscores the need for transparency and efficiency within government operations.
A whistleblower has reportedly come forward to Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), alleging that a worker at the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C., has lived in Florida for years. However, he receives a check from the agency's D.C. headquarters weekly. HUD pays its employees who live in D.C. more than its employees in other states. The “Florida man,” Antonio Carraway, has reportedly been allowed to “retire-in-place” while earning “100 percent taxpayer-funded union time.”
“Florida man moonlighting as a 'real estate professional' while allegedly slacking at his day job is just one of the bureaucrats that I'm highlighting this Christmas season,” Ernst told the DailyMail in a statement.
Carraway also works part-time as a real estate agent, which Ernst doubts he does outside the business hours of his federal job.
“It sounds like a comedic headline, but taxpayers are the butt of the joke as federal employees continue to get caught doing everything but their work,” Ernst said.“Americans will be getting the last laugh, though. Come next year, I will be giving bureaucrats a choice – do your job or be fired.”
The whistleblower also revealed that Tracy Vargas, an ex-HUD federal worker, was collecting taxpayer-funded paychecks for the four days she spent in jail after being arrested for DUI. While serving time in an Oklahoma jail, Vargas failed to submit any leave request and was “successfully paid” during that period. The woman said she had “engaged in union activities,” covered under taxpayer-funded union time. She was arrested in May 2020 and again in April 2020.
Ernst has strongly advocated for returning government employees to the office and ending remote work. A report addressed to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy highlighted a way to eliminate more than $2 trillion in waste. The report exposed that only six percent of federal workers “report in-person on a full-time basis.” At the same time, nearly one-third are remote on a full-time basis.