Tanning in Puerto Rico, bubble baths on Zoom.
This is what Sen. Joni Ernst claims some union members are doing on the taxpayer dime, inspiring the Iowa lawmaker to try and halt millions of dollars in payments to unions.
During an event in Washington Wednesday, Ernst highlighted that in 2019, $160 million was spent funding this so-called union time.
Federal employees are legally allowed to use official time – essentially working hours on the clock – for union duties like bargaining, resolving disputes and representing fellow colleagues.
Citing whistleblower complaints, Ernst said her team has uncovered instances of federal workers using their taxpayer-funded union time to go tanning in Puerto Rico and run real estate businesses in Florida.
‘We’ve caught them in their telework positions, not actually working, but doing other activities,’ Ernst charged.
The data from 2019 is the latest that has been made available to Ernst since President Joe Biden stopped publishing the figures, raising questions about transparency.
One case involved a woman that was jailed for driving over the legal limit for alcohol consumption. After the incident, Ernst noted that the federal worked claimed ‘I’m actually on taxpayer funded union time.’
Ernst is the founder and chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus, which aims to root out major instances of waste of taxpayer funds.
The Iowa Senator has introduced two bills to slash taxpayer funded union time, but neither has been considered as stand-alone legislation so far by her colleagues as the Senate prioritizes passing Trump’s budget.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, criticizes the Biden administration as Republican leaders speak to reporters following a Republican Conference meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks at a protest against firings of federal employees during a rally to defend federal workers in Washington, DC on February 11, 2025
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, walks to board a bus to the White House with other Senate Republicans for a meeting with President Donald Trump on his spending and tax bill, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington
However, Ernst still plans to try and either add in her legislation at later time, or offer it up as amendment to the Big Beautiful Bill still being negotiated in Congress.
Ernst anticipates pushback to the move from her Democrat colleagues:
‘I’d love to see the Democrats vote against a common sense piece of legislation. If we cannot get it amended into the one big, beautiful bill, then we will try and live you see it, to get unanimous consent to move it on the floor of the Senate.
Facing re-election in 2026, Ernst has taken strategic steps to align herself with President Donald Trump‘s agenda and chairing the DOGE caucus falls neatly in line with the administration’s cost-cutting priorities.
The Daily Mail reached out to the SEIU and AFGE unions for comments and did not receive a reply.
