Many of the 2.1 million people employed by the executive branch are bristling at President Donald Trump’s sweeping return-to-office order for the federal civilian workforce. But one deep blue faction of the Democratic coalition, the District of Columbia government, is showing that it quietly understands that Trump is helping to save Washington from financial ruin.
Remote work rules in place for nearly five years, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in many federal agencies, dating back a decade or so to President Barack Obama’s administration, are negatively affecting the local economy. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the District of Columbia Council, governing a Democratic behemoth where Trump in 2024 won about 6% to Democratic rival Kamala Harris‘s 90%, are unlikely to denigrate the president’s get-federal-workers-back-to-the-office efforts.
