Deputy Undersecretary Stephen Vaden fielded questions about USDA’s reorganization plans from Senate Ag Committee leaders this Wednesday morning.
Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar said the proposal has injected more uncertainty at a time when USDA customers are looking for certainty and trust.
“I did not vote for you Mr. Deputy Secretary, but I did think that you would go in, based on your experience, and be able to do things that would actually help rural America. And I actually took you at your word when you had pledged to work with us on things that would help. That’s not what happened here when we had absolutely no notice of what you were going to do.”
USDA’s reorganization plan includes relocating much of its Agency headquarters and National Capital Region staff out of the Washington, D.C. area to five regional hubs.
Undersecretary Vaden says the reason Congress was not notified earlier about the proposal was out of sensitivity for affected employees.
“They should hear that decision from the Secretary first, and not from a leak that originates from somewhere else.”
Vaden says reorganization efforts will happen in phases and that USDA’s entire focus has been on voluntary decisions by employees.
The five regional hubs are Raleigh, North Carolina, Kansas City, Missouri, Indianapolis, Indiana, Fort Collins, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah.
