Former USDA Officials Lobby to Block Agriculture’s Plans to Relocate Research Offices

The holiday season toward the end of a Congress is a difficult time to exercise one’s constitutional right to petition the government. Ever since the Agriculture Department unveiled its plan last August to move two key research units outside the Washington, D.C., “bubble,” many employees, former employees, and outside stakeholders have expressed puzzlement. Secretary Sonny Perdue cited cost savings and rural recruitment advantages to justify his plan to solicit bids from localities to be the new home to some 700 employees of USDA’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture.