By Ben Guarino Ben Guarino Reporter covering the practice and culture of science Email Bio Follow May 22 at 5:12 PM A plan to move Agriculture Department researchers out of Washington has thrown two small but influential science agencies into upheaval. Federal employees at the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture have quit in unusually large numbers since August, when Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced he would relocate the offices.
Perdue presented his idea as a money-saving plan that will move scientists closer to “stakeholders” and “customers” such as farmers. ERS is a statistical agency that provides research for lawmakers; NIFA funds hundreds of millions of dollars in agricultural research each year. Each office employs between 200 and 250 people, based on employee estimates. During the Obama administration, NIFA had about 400 workers and ERS had 300.
A USDA document known as the “stay-go” list, acquired by The Washington Post, describes 76 positions at ERS that would remain in Washington. All other employees would be assigned to the new site, though the document mentions “planned attrition.” The USDA declined to explain this phrase, and a USDA spokesman said in March that the department has “no assumptions at all about attrition.”
The recent political pressure on ERS “seemed to fit a pattern,” Stacy told The Post, citing President Trump’s 2019 budget request that would have cut the agency’s funding by half. “Right after that, along came the relocation and this reorganization . . . I couldn’t help in the back of my mind to think that we were somehow being singled out.”
In March, Perdue announced 68 “middle list” candidates. On May 3, he said that Kansas City, the Research Triangle in North Carolina, and the state of Indiana were the final contenders, with St. Louis and Madison, Wis. as alternates.
Who cares
I'm absolutely positive the entire country didn't need to know that six workers in a bloated federal agency quit.
Pfft. Food safety and research. Whatever. sarcasm AmateurHour
Psychopaths mendacity shows itself by directly planting lies and partly by manipulation in the sense of distort and adapting information so that it serves the purpose of the psychopath.He may also lie by distort the facts a little or by producing only parts of a case.
Poor babies, service members move every 3
Welcome to the stone age
dear lord
That’s one way to clear out the swamp.
He is going to destroy every agency before we wake up as to what happen?
You know, if the Sec of Ag announced that they were moving to say, Chicago, rather fears that the agency might end up in Des Moines, they'd probably have less attrition. Highly skilled economists with lots of job prospects don't want to live in some two-bit flyover city.
Trump is a con man. I wonder what he will gain here.
Good....we need fresh faces anyway
Maybe they need to quit. USDA needs to be way better and get better people to do their job .
BigWinInTx On top of Trump’s golfing expense to us taxpayers, the cost to move all this will be enormous. Such disrespect for all of us & our hard earned money. Stinks big time!
Cool.
Such is life.
Swamp draining
More chaos caused by Trump and the geniuses he's chosen for key positions.
USDA is the only thing that keeps The Chinese and other world production of foodstuff from poisoning Americans. Trump wants FDA dumped. Next goes any review of pharmaceuticals coming to market-you will be the guinea pigs for success. Health of America can't afford this. SHUT DOWN
HallerDawn This exactly what tRUMP’s administration & Steve Bannon’s “deconstructionist manifesto” seeks to do... dismantle the Federal Government!!!
Quit in droves? Oh, like CNN & Washington Post subscribers? Like Black people leaving the Democrats? Like people leaving NY & San Francisco to escape the the mess made by Democrat leaders. Those kind of droves?
Awesome, the swamp is draining itself!
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