The federal government is being hit with a major overhaul. But in the process, waste and fraud is being discovered.
And this Republican Senator has exposed a government agency for engaging in massive fraud.
NASA shelled out a jaw-dropping $417,798 in taxpayer money over 12 months ending September 30, 2024, to cover union activities for its employees, prompting sharp criticism from a Republican senator who claims the agency’s workers are fleecing the public.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a fierce advocate for scrutinizing federal spending, obtained data revealing that 30 NASA employees racked up at least 4,078 hours on union-related tasks during fiscal year 2024. “Ripping off taxpayers by an astronomical amount,” Ernst fumed while speaking with the New York Post, accusing the space agency of squandering funds meant for the public good.
The union time in question spans a range of efforts, from attending labor meetings and advocating for employees facing discipline to preparing for collective bargaining talks and participating in union-led training.
According to figures shared with the New York Post by Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE caucus, this hefty sum reflects a persistent pattern of federal employees leaning on public dollars for non-government work. “If federal employees want to space out from their jobs,” she quipped, “they need to refund the American people for every last penny.”
While NASA’s spending on union time has dipped in recent years—down from $477,204 in fiscal year 2023 and a steep $641,037 in 2019—the decline hasn’t softened Ernst’s stance. “Taxpayer-funded union time needs to end,” she insisted, arguing that even a single dollar diverted this way is unjustifiable.
Meanwhile, NASA’s overall budget has followed a similar downward trend, dropping to $24.88 billion in 2024 from $25.4 billion the previous year. When adjusted for inflation, the agency’s current funding falls short of its 2019 levels, adding fuel to debates about how it prioritizes resources.
The agency’s financial shifts come as its once-unrivaled grip on America’s space ambitions has loosened. Private players like SpaceX—now a key NASA contractor—have surged onto the scene, reshaping the landscape.
Decades ago, NASA stood as the nation’s go-to for launching astronauts and payloads into orbit.
But after the space shuttle program wound down in 2011, the agency pivoted, outsourcing routine trips to low-Earth orbit to companies like SpaceX to free up focus for bold missions deeper into space.
NASA has poured effort into its Space Launch System (SLS), a massive rocket designed to carry astronauts to the moon or Mars.
Yet, the program has stumbled, plagued by ballooning costs and setbacks. By contrast, SpaceX’s reusable Starship has charged ahead, spotlighting the private sector’s growing edge in the space race.
Federal unions, governed by the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute, can’t haggle over pay or benefits—those are locked in by law. Instead, their negotiations zero in on minutiae.
Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, previously told the New York Post that these talks often yield “tedious things that are of zero or negative benefit to taxpayers.” Think cubicle panel heights, designated smoking zones on no-smoking campuses, or even the right to sport Spandex at work.
The last time the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) crunched the numbers on taxpayer-funded union time across the federal government was 2019, pegging the total at $135 million. After that, OPM hit pause on tracking the data—a move that spurred Ernst to dig into the issue herself.
In December, she fired off requests to multiple agencies for their union time spending details, with NASA among the first to reply. The agency’s workforce is backed by two major unions: the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and the American Federation of Government Employees.
Ernst’s findings have reignited a fiery debate about whether taxpayer dollars should bankroll union activities at all, especially as NASA navigates tighter budgets and a shifting role in the cosmos.
For now, the senator’s crusade to root out what she sees as waste shows no signs of slowing down.
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
