Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry joined Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the Ranking Member of that Committee, in leading 13 of their colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to create a transparent and open process for gathering public comments and provide a minimum of 60 days for key stakeholders to submit feedback after publishing a full, updated reorganization proposal to its website.
“According to your own testimony, the reorganization plan is not settled and even the decision on which regional facilities will close is subject to change. This lack of clarity makes it difficult to formulate relevant comments on the proposal, especially if USDA is making changes to the reorganization plan without updating Congress or relevant stakeholders,” the Senators wrote in their letter to USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden, who testified at the July 30th bipartisan oversight hearing on the reorganization plan.
“Therefore, we request that USDA provide at least 60 days for feedback on the proposal after the major initial elements of the proposal have been set and that USDA publish any full, updated proposal on its website along with a more detailed comment and feedback system that allows USDA customers, employees, and agricultural groups to provide meaningful feedback. Providing clarity on the specific plan, sufficient time to formulate comments, and a transparent, familiar process will improve the final outcome and provide confidence that all opinions were considered,” the Senators continued.
The letter was also signed by Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai’i), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
During the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, Schiff pressed USDA Deputy Secretary Vaden on USDA’s plan, emphasizing that none of the hubs are in California, the largest agriculture producing state in the nation.
The full letter is available here and below:
Dear Deputy Secretary Vaden:
Thank you for your July 30 appearance before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to testify on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) recent announcement of its Department-wide reorganization plan. While we were encouraged by USDA’s decision following the hearing to seek public comments on the reorganization, USDA should provide additional time for agriculture groups, employees, conservation groups, and others to submit thoughtful comments and analysis for consideration and should use a transparent process that allows for open and public feedback.
According to your own testimony, the reorganization plan is not settled and even the decision on which regional facilities will close is subject to change. This lack of clarity makes it difficult to formulate relevant comments on the proposal, especially if USDA is making changes to the reorganization plan without updating Congress or relevant stakeholders.
In addition, while USDA has made available an initial 26-day e-mail option for submitting comments, it has not provided further information on how those comments will be used, shared so other commenters can react to them, responded to, or whether there are options for commenters to remain anonymous. Our offices have already heard from constituents expressing concern about how their comments will be reviewed and want to ensure that USDA will consider and respond to their feedback.
Therefore, we request that USDA provide at least 60 days for feedback on the proposal after the major initial elements of the proposal have been set and that USDA publish any full, updated proposal on its website along with a more detailed comment and feedback system that allows USDA customers, employees, and agricultural groups to provide meaningful feedback. Providing clarity on the specific plan, sufficient time to formulate comments, and a transparent, familiar process will improve the final outcome and provide confidence that all opinions were considered.
We look forward to further details on the proposal and process for input.
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