The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) spent approximately $237,960 to purchase 30 solar-powered picnic table while most of their employees stayed at home during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The State Department spent more than $117.250 on 40 Ethan Allen leather recliners for its embassy in Islamabad.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency each spent $284,000 to upgrade their conference rooms, which were mostly empty.

The Post obtained an exclusive report from a watchdog that shows the extravagant purchases are part of a staggering $3.3 billion spent by federal agencies on new office furnishings between 2020 and 2022.

OpenTheBooks.com, a taxpayer watchdog, revealed the furniture spending in a report published on Tuesday. The study also cited the Government Accountability Office’s report which found that 17 out of 24 federal agencies were using between 9% and 49% of building capacity well into the fourth years of the pandemic.

The agencies spent more than one billion dollars per year on plush décor, a rate that is consistent with the pre-pandemic level despite departments occupying only a quarter of the available space.

The group cited a “particularly egregious” example in which the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation had spent $15 million for new furniture, or $14 400 per employee.

The Environmental Protection Agency spent $6.5 million on trendy furniture as it moved into a new 300,000 square foot office at Four Penn Central.

The federal government spent $26 million on furnishing conference rooms. Most employees used virtual meetings via teleconferencing.

Adam Andrzejewski, founder and CEO of OpenTheBooks, said that the audit highlighted the need to closely scrutinize federal spending when Congress considers additional government funding in the upcoming weeks.

Andrzejewski, The Post, said: “As Congress continues its fight over spending we want to make clear that massive amounts of money are being appropriated and spent, wasted, and sometimes hidden from taxpayers.”

In the case of office furnishings, federal headquarters are rarely more than a quarter full in a single workday. No major agency is even at half capacity. We’ve spent another billion dollars on desks, chairs and couches, while our employees are clocking in from their living rooms.

The House and Senate have passed appropriations legislation to fund the Government at current levels up until November 17th before long-term expenditure legislation is considered.

The Post quoted House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, as saying: “Excessive expenditure on luxury furniture at a time when more than 50% of the federal workforce is teleworking, is a symptom of a culture that has been rife with wasteful spending in Washington, DC for decades.”

He added that “the ‘use it, or lose it’ policy encourages unnecessary spending because agencies [are] penalized instead of rewarded for not spending their end-of year funds.” “This is only one of many perverse incentives driving irresponsible expenditure in our nation’s Capitol — and this has to stop.”

The group reported that the Pentagon spent the most on furniture, $1.2 billion, according to the group.

The Department of Veteran Affairs spent $428 million, the Justice Department $408 millions, the General Services Administration $308 Million, the State Department $302 Million, and the Department of Homeland Security $155,000,000.

OpenTheBooks reported that, when accounting for spending before the pandemic, the Defense Department spent $2.1 billion on furniture between 2018 and 2022.

The Post quoted a spokesman from the Department of Veterans Affairs as saying: “Some of VA’s office-based staff teleworked, both for their own safety and that of those we serve. But they represent only a small fraction of our entire workforce.”

The spokesman continued, “VA’s 465,000 employees are providing more care and benefits to Veterans than at any time in the history of our country. We also regularly buy furniture and office supplies for them.”

He added that “the vast majority of VA workers worked on-site at VA health care centers throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic,” mobilizing to assist millions of veterans and families during this difficult time. “All VA medical centers were open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with thousands of VA workers working there every day to help our nation’s Veterans.”

The spokesman added that “now that the public-health emergency is over, VA helps lead the federal government to bring headquarters employees back into the office.”

The Post reported that a spokesperson for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation said the agency had moved to its new headquarters in 2022 because of the expiration of a lease.

The spokesperson said that Congress authorized the costs for the move of PBGC headquarters in 2017.

Other agencies did not respond to a comment request.

In his State of the Union speech in 2022, President Biden said that “it was time for America to go back to work” and to “fill our great downtowns with people again.” However, reports indicate that his administration has had difficulty reducing teleworking.

Axios reported that White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, in an email sent to all cabinet members on August 15, called for a “dramatic” reduction in teleworking by their agencies during the fall.

Zients, in an email sent to agency leaders, wrote: “We’re returning to in person work because it’s critical to our team and will allow us to deliver better outcomes for the American public.”

As we move towards the fall and the end of COVID-19, your agencies are increasing the amount of work that your teams do in person.

“This is the priority of President Obama — and I expect each of you in September and Octember to execute this change aggressively.”

The reckless government furniture expenditure was also the topic of heated debate during last week’s Republican primary debate. Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC, accused Nikki Haley (R) of spending $52,701 for curtains in her New York apartment when she served as United Nations Ambassador between 2017 and 2018.

Haley retorted, “You have bad information,” Scott. Tim, do your research on the curtains, as [President Barack] Obama purchased them. “They were already there when I arrived at the residence.”

A report conducted last year revealed that around 25% of employees of the Department of Health and Human Services did not work remotely during the first nine-months of the pandemic. They failed to log on to their agency’s app.