The Agriculture Department has received money from Congress to hire temporary workers because its downsized field offices cannot handle their workloads.
Congress this week approved $43 million for temporary workers' pay as part of the 1999 emergency supplemental spending bill.
USDA's Farm Service Agency county offices, which have been cut from 3,700 to 2,500 during the Clinton administration, have been overwhelmed with administering seven new farmer aid programs Congress established last year. Congress provided USDA an extra $40 million for salaries last year, but the department asked for the additional $43 million this year to help the taxed offices.
Despite the temporary work overload, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman told the House Agriculture Committee last week that more downsizing will improve USDA's field operations.
"There is more streamlining to be done, such as in offices where we have one supervisor and two employees," Glickman said. "Additional funds are part of the answer, but so is managing our affairs better."
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Larry Combest, R-Texas, criticized the department for not having enough workers on hand to get aid out to farmers quickly.
"Understaffed field offices, delays in making supplemental lending requests, and disaster assistance passed by Congress last October that won't get to farmers until June, all add up to a weak and ineffective administration response to the real pain being suffered by America's farmers," Combest said.
USDA will downsize by 18,000 employees from 1993 to 2000, the Clinton administration projects. In 1993, USDA had 115,000 employees. In 1998, the department had 96,000 workers.
NEXT STORY: House passes supplemental spending bill