Klobuchar warns USDA's D.C. shutdown could hurt rural Americans, farmers
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in a statement that shutting down most of its D.C. operations will hurt the USDA's ability "to provide critical services to Americans." Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) warned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture shuttering most of its Washington, D.C. operations could hurt the department's ability "to provide critical services to Americans."
Why it matters: The USDA is one of several departments to majorly restructure during President Trump's second term, seeing more than 15,000 employees accept White House resignation offers.
Driving the news: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will shutter nearly all of its Washington, D.C. buildings and disperse most of its staff throughout the country, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on Thursday.
State of play: Most of the Washington-area staff will relocate to five locations around the country, Rollins confirmed in a statement.
- In a video message to employees, Rollins said that employees will be placed in Fort Collins, Colorado, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Missouri, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Salt Lake City.
- Staff will receive details about their new assignments in the coming months.
The department will close nearly all of its D.C.-area buildings, except for the Whitten and Yates buildings on the National Mall.
What they're saying: Rollins said that the move is a cost-cutting one in step with Trump's agenda to slash the federal budget.
- "President Trump has made it clear government needs to be scrutinized, and after this thorough review of USDA, the results show a bloated, expensive, and unsustainable organization," the department said in its statement.
- "However, there will be no large-scale reductions in force, given that the department has already seen an exodus of 15,364 employees through the administration's deferred resignation plan."
The other side: In a statement, Klobuchar, Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, called for Congress to review the move.
- "The USDA must come before Congress to explain why it wants to adopt this plan, just as farmers have been hit with obscenely high tariffs, families have been walloped by SNAP cuts, and research grants have been frozen and reduced," Klobuchar said.
- "This half-baked proposal – submitted with no consultation with leading Agricultural Senators – will set us back. We must have an immediate hearing before more damage is done."
Catch up quick: The department said last week that it fired 70 foreign contract researchers following a national security review intended to secure the U.S. food supply from adversaries that include Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
- The Supreme Court this month cleared the way for agencies to conduct layoffs, potentially demolishing legal guardrails that stopped the USDA previously.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from Sen. Klobuchar.
