A key Republican leader voiced his support for President-elect Donald Trump’s goal of requiring federal workers to return to near-empty government offices years after the COVID-19 pandemic led decisionmakers to implement “work-from-home” policies.

In an interview with Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow, House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said that the vast federal workforce has become far less efficient because the outgoing Biden-Harris regime has refused to order the majority of them to return to their offices.

“I am sure you are in touch with the DOGE brothers; they don’t dance as well as the Blues Brothers but almost dance as well,” Kudlow began during a segment over the weekend. “Don’t you think government bureaucrats should show up, work in the bathtub, work on your gym, work on your abs, instead you should come to work, and lose your job.”

“Cutting as much as you can, looking to reduce regulations which will help our economy take off along with the tax cuts you are talking about in the previous section, show up to work,” Jordan responded on Saturday.

“Of course, you are more productive when you show up for work; less than half the people who work in federal bureaucracy come to work in D.C.; they are working remote from Maryland or Virginia or wherever they happen to be. Everyone knows you’re more efficient when you do that, but we don’t have people doing so,” he added.

Jordan’s remarks come on the heels of a pledge by Trump to fire any federal worker who refuses to return to their office desk.

“If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and personal residence, USA Today reported last week.

He also vowed to legally challenge a recent years-long waiver granted to federal workers as a sop to their unions.

“Somebody in the Biden administration gave a five-year waiver of that, so for five years people don’t have to come back into the office,” he added. “It’s ridiculous. It was like a gift to a union, and we’re obviously going to be in court to stop it.”

The Social Security Administration and the American Federation of Government Employees union, representing over 40,000 workers, recently reached an agreement allowing most employees to continue working remotely two to five days per week.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, aimed at reducing government spending, is expected to recommend ending remote work across the federal government. Musk has been a vocal critic of remote work, previously describing it as “morally wrong.”

“Around half of the country’s 2.3 million federal employees work fully in-person, while the other half are eligible for remote work, according to the Office of Management and Budget. Around 10% are fully remote,” USA Today added.

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John-Paul S. Deol, a partner and leader of the nationwide Employment Law Practice Group at Dhillon Law Group, led by noted conservative attorney Harmeet Dhillon, noted in an op-ed for The Hill last week that in-person work leads to far more productivity, offers better options for promotion, and that working remotely is “not for everybody.”

“You do not build a career over Zoom. You get noticed by showing up, contributing and building relationships with colleagues and supervisors,” Deol wrote. “A 2022 study by Gallup found that in-person interactions are critical for fostering innovation, mentorship and professional growth.

“We must not forget the value of team building and camaraderie. Remote work kills those watercooler moments that spark collaboration and creativity. And no, Slack channels full of memes don’t count as ‘teambuilding,’” he noted, adding: “Agencies that handle national security, public health and disaster response can’t afford to operate like this. When the next crisis hits, do we really want a workforce that’s forgotten how to work together in person?”

“Let’s not forget that remote work doesn’t work for everyone, especially the public. When federal employees work remotely, the people they are supposed to serve often get left in the lurch,” he said, noting that the vast majority of the American workforce returned to their places of employment years ago.