Employees from two Department of Agriculture research agencies stood and turned their backs to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue at an all-hands meeting Thursday to silently protest a decision to relocate the agencies halfway across the country.
Perdue announced earlier Thursday morning that the Economic Research Service, which provides research and statistical analysis for lawmakers, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which allocates federal research funding, will be relocated to Kansas City from Washington, DC, the final announcement in a process that began last year.
The department says the move will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, but many employees view the change as politically driven and a way to disrupt climate research and other work their bosses disagree with. Both agencies recently voted overwhelmingly to unionize to push back against the move. Perdue announced the final relocation site in a letter that was distributed to employees Thursday
morning. Perdue and the department have argued that the move will lower
standard of living costs, save taxpayer dollars and move the agencies
closer to "stakeholders." "Following a rigorous site selection process, the Kansas City Region
provides a win win -- maximizing our mission function by putting
taxpayer savings into programmatic outputs and providing affordability,
easy commutes, and extraordinary living for our employees," Perdue said.
"The Kansas City Region has proven itself to be hub for all things
agriculture and is a booming city in America's heartland."...MORE
To Secretary Perdue: congrats on Operation Rawhide Head'em up and Move'em out!.
https://youtu.be/AKC8pSFg1Vw
To USDA Employees: Just like Wilbur Harrison, you're going to Kansas City!
https://youtu.be/tkJHRjlkT3o
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Friday, June 14, 2019
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3 comments:
Why do the inmates run the asylum? No wonder the swamp is so deep.
They've been turning their backs on agriculture for a long time...
It is so sad because they are being reassigned to "fly over" country. Being forced away from the "swamp asylum" must be traumatic.
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