Buying friends: Mayorkas gave $1 billion in extra vacation to DHS employees

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has granted his employees more than $1 billion worth of additional taxpayer-funded vacation time, according to department staffers, who say Mr. Mayorkas is using taxpayers’ money in an ill-fated attempt to win affection from an alienated workforce.

Mr. Mayorkas, who has been on the job for roughly 2½ years, has approved 115 hours of additional leave per employee. That includes 45 hours, or more than a full extra week off, in his first year, followed by 48 hours in 2022 and 24 hours so far this year.

Figuring 260,000 department employees and an average hourly pay of about $40 per employee, that means Mr. Mayorkas has doled out at least $1.2 billion in additional taxpayer-funded vacation time. Law enforcement and high cost-of-living locality pay could mean the actual figure is significantly higher...more