https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article232730352.html Fewer than half of USDA workers will follow agency to Kansas City https://thehill.com/policy/energy-e...as-research-agencies-move-to-kansas-city-area Scientists flee USDA as research agencies move to Kansas City area https://www.kshb.com/news/local-new...to-relocate-to-kansas-city-as-deadline-passes Many USDA employees decline to relocate to Kansas City as deadline passes https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-...ents-relocation-of-ers-and-nifa-a-solution-in Agriculture Department's relocation of ERS and NIFA: A solution in search of a problem
Is the big deal here the relocation to KC? Doesn't that just mean new employees from the area will apply and get jobs there?
Nah, you gotta look into it more in depth. The relocation was purely done to clean house and decimate the workforce. There were some deadline shenanigans engaged in as well. There's no reason for a federal agency to move shop after having hired experts in the field from all over the nation. https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article232797732.html But Perdue’s budget requests signal his true intent. The White House budget for 2020 requested $61 million, including $15.5 million in relocation costs, for the ERS. That’s $41.5 million less than appropriated in 2019. In 2019, the agency had funding for 319 employees. Its 2020 budget request funds just 160 — a reduction of 159 people. In other words, Perdue would like to cut the number of employees nearly in half. To achieve that result without congressional approval, the USDA can simply hold the positions open and allow the agency to wither by attrition. The cost-benefit analysis, revealed only after Perdue announced the move, provides the pretext of saving taxpayer money that presumably could be plowed back into research. Again, Perdue’s actions have demonstrated that he has no intention of bolstering the research agencies. For the past two years, he has systematically sought to undermine them. Last year, Perdue ordered researchers to label their peer-reviewed public studies “preliminary,” a move clearly intended to cast doubt on the validity of the results. He withdrew that request only after an uproar from employees and scientific organizations. That’s why we have so vigorously opposed this move. When you add up all the evidence, we reach the conclusion that the USDA’s motivation is to sharply reduce the research the ERS produces. That will hurt farmers, ranchers — and in the end, Kansas City. That’s no cause for celebration. Maddow had a decent take: