Simply put, there is nothing magic in strapping ourselves into a metal box every day only to drive to an office where we sit behind a desk working on a computer.

Because of a provision I inserted in the FY 2001 Transportation Appropriations bill, by the end of this year, all federal agencies must allow every eligible employee who wants to telework and whose job lends itself to telework to do so.

To say I'm disappointed at the federal government's efforts in implementing the FY 2001 law is a major understatement. Although federal agencies have a success rate of 13.7 percent of eligible employees teleworking, the federal agencies are in clear violation of this law which the Congress approved and the President signed into law.

The federal government should be the model for telework. Study after study proves that telework is family friendly, good for the environment, increases work force morale, improves productivity, and reduces traffic congestion.

We are in danger of losing federal employees to higher paying jobs in the private sector. The federal government needs to do everything it can to make sure it can hire the best and the brightest.

Offering incentives such as telework is one way to make the federal government an attractive place to work. In addition, many areas in the country, including the metropolitan Washington region, are on the brink of losing vital transportation dollars because of noncompliance with federal clean air standards. The federal government is the nation's largest employer so it makes sense that keeping cars off the roads can help improve air quality.

The federal government woefully lags behind the private sector in promoting telework. That makes no sense to me.

I will submit for the committee's review the Summmer 2004 edition of Loudoun Magazine, published in the 10th District of Virginia.

While it looks like the regular magazine, there is something special about this edition:

They never went to the "office" for meetings, to discuss story ideas or lay out the publication.

The magazine is participating in a pilot program being run by the Software Productivity Consortium, or SPC, here in northern Virginia.

Through the wonders of modern technology, some off-the-shelf software, inexpensive Web cameras and ingenuity, all the employees are able to collaborate face-to-face in real time on a daily basis.

The federal government and its employees are, for the most part, no different than the staff of Loudoun Magazine.

The government - and business- need to give it a chance. Both need to be willing to think out of the box to make it work.

According to the publisher of Loudoun Magazine, employees using the Web conferencing are saving an aggregate of well over 1,700 miles per month in commuting on Loudoun's highways.

He believes that number could go as high as 20,000 miles if his entire company were able to participate in the program.

I will provide the committee with a copy of Loudoun Business, a sister publication of Loudoun Magazine, detailing the project.

I encourage you to read the story. The paper is going to do monthly updates on the project.

The story provides some interesting insight as to how the company has approached the project and ways it has overcome obstacles - like attaching an antenna to the silo of a neighbor's barn in order to expedite connectivity.

The federal government must get serious about the telework program. While it was good of Chairman Davis to hold this hearing today, we shouldn't have to be here talking about why the federal government has been so slow to embrace a policy that works.

I've taken steps this year to show the agencies under the jurisdiction of the Commerce-Justice-State (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee that teleworking is serious business. I inserted a provision in the CJS spending bill which withholds $5 million from the budgets of the departments of Commerce, Justice and State until they ensure that all their eligible workers are permitted to telecommute.

The CJS appropriations bill also requires the federal judiciary, the Small Business Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission to prove eligible members of their workforce are permitted to telecommute.

The bill also requires the departments and agencies to designate a "Telework Coordinator" to oversee the implementation and operation of telecommuting programs within each department. The departments and agencies also will be required to provide the Appropriations Committee with quarterly reports on the number of employees telecommuting.

I hope these provisions will get the telework point across and the agencies, from the top down, will start taking telework seriously.

Telework is a win-win for the federal government. It increases worker productivity. It improves morale. It gives employees a chance to spend time with their family or simply use their free time as they see fit. It improves our air quality and it can save the federal government money by helping to reduce real estate costs and increase worker retention.