USDA defends urban program management

Agriculture Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment Jim Lyons sparred with House members and USDA's inspector general Tuesday at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on management of a $4 million per year urban conservation program.

USDA Inspector General Roger Viadero testified that an audit showed that USDA's Urban Resources Partnership Program had used Natural Resources Conservation Service funds for programs such as painting urban murals for which it had no authority and had not followed proper procedures for establishing guidelines for the program and awarding the grants.

Agriculture Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry Subcommittee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said that if the USDA had not wasted the money, it "would have gone to programs originally destined for America's struggling farming and ranching communities." Subcommittee ranking member Eva Clayton, D-N.C., defended the program but said Lyons's slowness in responding to Viadero indicated he is "not accountable."

Lyons acknowledged that there had been some management errors but also noted that "funding for future agricultural programs depends on programs like this" because the House "is largely an urban body."