ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL OPPOSES ATTEMPT TO GUT U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 19 attorneys general, today filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) thinly veiled attempt to drive large numbers of employees to resign by forcing them to move across the country.
In their brief, Raoul and the coalition urge the Northern District of California to halt the USDA’s destructive reorganization plan to protect states from this imminent harm. Raoul and the coalition are joining the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the AFL-CIO and many other labor organizations, counties, municipalities, nonprofits and member organizations around the country that are challenging the proposed USDA reorganization.
“The USDA’s proposed reorganization plan would hinder Illinois’ ability to provide nutrition assistance to families, as well as eliminate vital information provided to farmers with the closing of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center,” Raoul said. “The Trump administration is once again attempting to gut federal agencies he dislikes, and I will continue to join with my fellow attorneys general in pushing back against these illogical and dangerous proposals.”
Raoul and the coalition’s brief supports a motion for a preliminary injunction in AFGE, AFL-CIO, et al. v. Trump, et al., a case pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Raoul and the coalition argue that the USDA’s reorganization would not benefit the agency or the states and would instead harm states that partner with the USDA on essential programs to protect food safety and security, administer food assistance to our most vulnerable residents, and prevent wildfires.
Illinois relies on USDA Food and Nutrition Administration personnel for program administration, guidance, funding, oversight and coordination. The reorganization threatens Illinois’ ability to efficiently administer critical nutrition-assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, child and school-based nutrition programs, and nutrition-related disaster assistance.
Similarly, Illinois and other states rely on USDA research agencies for information and data concerning agriculture, food production, conservation, pests, plant and animal health, and food safety. The USDA plans to close the flagship Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Maryland, which has been the home of the Agricultural Research Service and is widely regarded as one of the most advanced and influential agricultural research centers in the world. Shuttering this lab would harm not just agriculture, but also public health. Scientists at BARC are currently studying cyclospora, a foodborne parasite that can cause severe illness, at a time the U.S. is in the midst of the worst cyclospora outbreak on record. Every scientist on at least one ongoing cyclospora project at BARC has declined to move across the country and will instead be forced to resign from the USDA, leaving the future of this research uncertain.
States and countless local governments also depend upon the Forest Service for wildfire prevention, wildfire response, land-management partnerships and scientific expertise. As USDA Forest Service personnel are pushed out, the agency will have reduced capacity and lose specialized expertise, exposing state lands and communities to unnecessary harm.
The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to dramatically slash protections and programs that states and people rely on, including food safety, environmental protection, natural disaster funding and funding for victims of crime. In the case of the USDA, Trump’s political appointees are hoping to cut as much as 46% of the USDA’s workforce. One way the administration is attempting to force people out is through this drastic reorganization, which forces employees to choose between moving across the country despite family and personal obligations – and in many cases taking a significant pay cut – or quitting their jobs. Raoul and the coalition’s brief highlights the harms to public health and safety that would follow and urges the court to protect these programs and employees.
Joining Raoul in filing this brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
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