1 of 2 | Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins attends a roundtable to discuss American agriculture as part of the so-called "Make America Healthy Again" campaign at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., this past week. The USDA announced on Thursday that it will reorganize and move staff out of Washington, D.C., and into one of five hubs throughout the country. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
July 24 (UPI) -- The United States Department of Agriculture will reorganize, refocusing its core operations to support American farming, ranching and forestry, moving staff out of Washington and closer to farm land, said Brooke L. Rollins, U.S. secretary of Agriculture.
A press release from Rollins said, "Over the last four years, USDA's workforce grew by 8%, and employees' salaries increased by 14.5% -- including hiring thousands of employees with no sustainable way to pay them. This all occurred without any tangible increase in service to USDA's core constituencies across the agricultural sector."
The statement goes on to say that the "USDA's footprint in the National Capital Region is underutilized and redundant, plagued by rampant overspending and decades of mismanagement and costly deferred maintenance." The NCR includes Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas in Virginia and Maryland.
