Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden said Tuesday that USDA was prepared to implement shutdown plans prepared by the previous administration if appropriations lapse at midnight due to a partisan deadlock over a stopgap funding bill.
“USDA has existing shutdown plans. They were developed under the previous administration, and if necessary, we will have to implement them,” Vaden told reporters after speaking in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“We are legally constrained in what we can do without appropriations. All of our fee-based services, all of the services which have legal exemptions, they're going to continue," Vaden said. But for other services, “once the funding runs out, we have to shut them down, and there are legal consequences if we don't.”
Under the USDA shutdown plans developed by the Biden administration, meat inspections operated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service would continue, as would operations of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, including inspections of fruits and vegetables.
The Agricultural Marketing Service would continue tasks such as voluntary and mandatory grading, classing and inspection services, and oversight of research and promotion programs and laboratory operations.
Don’t miss a beat! It’s easy to sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! For the latest on what’s happening in Washington, D.C. and around the country in agriculture, just click here.
Many operations of other agencies would be suspended, including at the Farm Service Agency. Many FSA activities would cease other than work in support of “securing collateral used to secure” farm loans, according to the agency plan. Other work could “be performed at the discretion” of the undersecretary for farm production and conservation, according to the plan.
At the Environmental Protection Agency, pesticide registration work could continue during a shutdown because that activity is funded by fee revenue, according to a new plan posted by the agency.
Fees collected from companies under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act “are not subject to the annual appropriations process. Where funds are available in such accounts, they may continue to be obligated until it is no longer practicable to operate,” the EPA plan says.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated White House threats to carry out mass layoffs of furloughed workers during a shutdown. “We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them [Democrats] … like cutting vast numbers of people out,” he said.
The Congressional Budget Office, citing estimates by the Office of Personnel Management, estimated that about 750,000 federal employees who collectively earn about $400 million a day would be furloughed during a shutdown.
The number of furloughed employees would vary on a daily basis depending on how long the shutdown lasted. Some agencies might furlough additional employees while others might recall some workers.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
