White House Asks Federal Agencies, Departments to Curb Travel
White House Asks Federal Agencies, Departments to Curb Travel
(Bloomberg) -- The White House issued new guidance to federal agencies and departments on Saturday, telling them to limit work travel to “mission critical” activities amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The new guidance recommends that federal workers only travel if absolutely necessary, and encourages agencies to conduct meetings by phone or video conference, according to two people familiar with the move who requested anonymity because they were discussing an internal document. The memo, issued by the Office of Management and Budget, asked departments and agencies to determine if trips can be postponed or done virtually.
“To ensure the continued safety and well-being of our federal workforce, new guidance has been issued encouraging all agencies to consider work travel for mission critical activities only,” OMB said in a statement. “It is imperative that the federal government continue to serve the American public in every way possible.”
The guidance comes a day after the Pentagon announced that armed services, Defense Department civilian employees and their family members living on bases wouldn’t be able to travel domestically after this weekend, in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus. Earlier Saturday, President Donald Trump announced he was adding the U.K. and Ireland to an existing ban on travel from most of Europe for non-U.S. citizens.
Trump told reporters that he was also considering other domestic travel restrictions, including from certain areas where there has been a heavy outbreak of the deadly virus.
“If you don’t have to travel, I wouldn’t do it,” Trump said. “We want this thing to end. We don’t want a lot of people getting infected.”
The reduction in federal work travel will likely deal another blow to struggling airlines and hotel chains, which are reeling as tourists cancel plans and businesses encourage employees to work from home. White House officials have discussed a series of measures to provide temporary assistance to airlines, including the possibility of allowing companies to keep the 7.5% tax or $4.50 airport construction and maintenance fee collected on airline tickets.
Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday the administration may ask Congress for assistance for travel industries as the coronavirus epidemic continued to impact the economy.
“We expect to be coming back to Congress to make sure that as we put the health of America first, as businesses make those hard choices, to make a priority of the health of their employees or those that they serve or their customers, that we’re going to make sure that they can come all the way back,” Pence said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net;Saleha Mohsin in Washington at smohsin2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua, Shamim Adam
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.