In early August, the Department of Health and Human Services warned workers to steer clear of the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building “for the foreseeable future” over safety concerns, including a proliferation in drug dealing outside the facility.
“If it’s not safe for federal employees to work here, it certainly can’t be safe for businesses to operate and families to live here,” she added. “I’m calling to shut down the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building. After all, they’ve already been forced to abandon it, so why should taxpayers keep the lights on in Nancy Pelosi’s haunted house?”
Ernst, a staunch proponent of mandating that government employees return to work in person, made the pitch in a Wednesday letter to the General Services Administration, which manages the property.
The Pelosi building opened in 2007 and houses the California Democrat’s local office, as well as outposts of HHS, the Department of Labor and the Department of Transportation.
On Wednesday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) suggested workers relocate to other government facilities in the Bay Area where they won’t be “fearing for their lives.”
“Working at a Department of Health and Human Services building shouldn’t be a risk to your health or life, but it is now due to former Speaker Pelosi and the other liberal politicians that have allowed criminal chaos to overtake the streets of San Francisco,” Ernst said in a statement to The Post.
In response to the deteriorating situation, the Federal Protective Service has ramped up patrols, with some employees asking to be escorted in and out of the building, per the Chronicle.
“With at least five other federal facilities within the San Francisco area and GSA reportedly utilizing only about 10 percent of its available office space, perhaps the Speaker Pelosi Federal Building should be shuttered for the foreseeable future with its workers relocated,” Ernst added.
The senator also demanded GSA detail the number of employees who regularly enter the building, the security threats they have faced, and all federal outposts where employees have been advised to work remotely due to safety concerns.