In 2019, officials relocated the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City, Mo.

In 2019, officials relocated the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City, Mo. Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

GAO: USDA violated the Anti-Deficiency Act while planning its relocation of science agencies

House Democrats renewed calls to institute tighter regulation of agency relocations in light of the watchdog agency's findings.

A government watchdog agency this week ruled that the Agriculture Department violated the Anti-Deficiency Act and congressional notification requirements when it paid a federal contractor to consult on plans to relocate two research agencies from Washington, D.C., to Kansas City, Mo., during the Trump administration.

In 2019, officials relocated the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City, Mo., over the objections of employees and some Democratic lawmakers. Following the move, both agencies lost more than half of their staff, leading to a significant loss of productivity that the agencies are only now reemerging from.

And although studies from watchdog groups have already called into question the policy rationale for relocating—the Government Accountability Office last year found that although USDA had a plan to evaluate where to move the agencies, if anywhere, officials ultimately did not follow it—a new GAO decision found one instance where the department acted illegally.

In a decision published Tuesday, GAO General Counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez examined whether the Agriculture Department met its obligations to notify Congress ahead of transferring nearly $340,000 appropriated for relocation and renovations of the two science agencies’ facilities to the secretary’s office to pay a federal contractor hired to assist in planning for the moves. In short, Perez found that USDA met its obligations as it pertained to the National Institutes of Food and Agriculture, but that it violated the Anti-Deficiency Act by failing to send a renewed notice regarding the funds tied to the Economic Research Service relocation initiative.

At issue is how the funds that were transferred from the science agencies to the secretary’s office were originally appropriated, and whether the department’s August 2018 letter to Congress informing lawmakers of the maneuver still applied when the funds were spent that October, following the end of the 2018 fiscal year.

In NIFA’s case, the money was pulled from a line item specifically dedicated to relocation or renovation of the facility in the fiscal 2018 appropriations package with no time limits on its use, meaning the August 2018 letter met the department’s obligation to inform Congress. But because ERS did not have a similar budget provision authorizing the initiative, GAO found that USDA needed to send a new notification to Congress under the fiscal 2019 continuing resolution, which it failed to do.

“USDA asserts that its August 9, 2018, letter sufficiently notified the appropriations committees,” Perez wrote. “We disagree. On Sept. 28, Congress enacted a continuing resolution for fiscal year 2019. Two days later, on Sept. 30, USDA’s fiscal year 2018 appropriations expired, making them unavailable to incur new obligations. And the next day, fiscal year 2019 began. These events—the enactment of the continuing resolution, expiration of budget authority and change in fiscal years—rendered USDA’s August 9, 2018, letter insufficient for the purpose of notifying the appropriations committees of a transfer of amounts appropriated under the 2019 continuing resolution.”

Although USDA did not respond to a request for comment Friday, GAO wrote that the department argued that since lawmakers have required congressional notification ahead of fund transfers within departments for more than 20 years, there should be no need for a department to issue a renewed notification for the same action across fiscal years.

“USDA asserts that because Congress has enacted [the notification requirement] in some form for 23 years, it relies ‘on the assumption that at a minimum it will be included every year in the form it was in the prior year’ and, therefore, that if it notifies the appropriations committees during the prior fiscal year, then the enactment of a continuing resolution requires no further notification,” GAO wrote. “We disagree. A ‘blanket’ notification that remains valid under subsequent appropriations would not only be inconsistent with eh simple fact that a subsequent appropriation stands apart from a prior one, but would also frustrate Congress’ ability to oversee how agencies spend the funds it appropriates.”

House Democrats on Thursday cited GAO’s ruling as evidence that stronger guard rails need to be in place to govern plans to relocate federal agencies. The Conducting Oversight to Secure Transparency (COST) of Relocations Act, introduced last February, would require agencies to conduct and publish a cost-benefit analysis ahead of any effort to move their offices.

“The Trump administration’s disastrous relocation of two USDA research agencies was an attack on nonpartisan federal workers and the integrity of the essential work they perform for our country,” said Reps. Jennifer Wexton, Gerry Connolly and Don Beyer, all D-Va., in a joint statement. “The new GAO legal review of the relocation emphasizes the need to implement additional common sense guardrails to ensure due diligence is conducted before any agency relocation . . . We cannot allow this kind of politically motivated attack on our civil service to happen again.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.