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Sen. Susan Collins recently joined dozens of her colleagues in calling for the federal workforce to head back into the office amid extensive delays in critical services. As a taxpayer, I was shocked to learn that the federal workforce has not yet returned, and that Americans are suffering as a result.
The Department of Veterans Affairs had a backlog of nearly 200,000 claims as of the end of August; the IRS has a queue of 6.8 million unprocessed individual 2020 tax claims and Social Security offices remain inaccessible to all but the most dire cases.
This level of dysfunction this late in the game is totally unacceptable. The vast majority of Americans have returned to work at this point, with many sectors never having skipped a beat. Our teachers have returned to the classrooms, and here in Maine, the state government has largely returned to business as usual. It’s time for the federal government to bring its workforces back to the office. Thank you to Sen. Collins for adding her voice to this important mission.
Shawn Roderick
Readfield