WHAT OIG FOUND On August 9, 2018, the Department of Agriculture (USDA or the Department) announced a proposal to:
(1) realign the Economic Research Service (ERS) under the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE), which reports to the Office of the Secretary; and
(2) relocate ERS and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) offices.
In response to a Congressional request, we initiated an inspection of the Department’s legal and budgetary authority to execute these actions, and to determine the Department’s adherence to any established procedures relating to agency realignment and relocation and procedures associated with cost benefit analyses.
The Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1953 provides the Department with the legal authority to realign ERS under OCE and relocate ERS and NIFA offices.
However, while the General Provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Omnibus Act) provides certain budgetary authorities to the Department, there are established limitations on such authorities to realign or relocate offices.
Further, the Department has not obtained Congressional approval, as required by Section 717(a) of the Omnibus Act, and has not complied with the reporting deadline requirement in Section 753 of the Omnibus Act.
Yet, surprising probably (exactly) no-one, the Trump regime again flouts congress and the law:
The recent report from the Agriculture Department’s inspector general isn’t putting a dent in the agency’s plans to relocate two of its research bureaus to Kansas City by the end of the fiscal year.
In a highly anticipated report released earlier this week, the IG said the department didn’t have the budget authority to spend appropriated funding on the USDA relocation.
The inspector general cited a provision in the 2018 omnibus, which was designed to prevent agencies from using appropriated dollars for reprogramming, reorganization or relocation without first gaining approval from Congress.
The Trump regime may claim that their efforts to gut science and replace it with corporate lackeys and special interest lobbyists is a “done deal”, but the fight to preserve an experienced, non-partisan and science based labor force is happening:
— ERICH WAGNER | AUGUST 7, 2019
Despite the [Trump regime] Agriculture Department’s assertions that it has both the legal and budgetary authority to implement its plan to move the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture from Washington, D.C., to the Kansas City region, lawmakers and an agency cited by the department disputed officials’ rationale.
The Office of inspector General has already determined that this Trump regime move is unlawful:
..violates a 2018 appropriations law preventing the department from implementing any reorganization efforts without prior approval from congressional appropriations committees.
- the Trump cabal claim boils down to; not much but; because we say so:
• ..that such provisions are unconstitutional, pointing to the 1983 Supreme Court decision Immigration and Nationalization Service v. Chadha, which found that provisions of laws that grant congressional committees “legislative vetoes” of an executive branch decision are at best nonbinding.
• “The budgetary provisions cited by the OIG report requiring committee approval have been ruled unconstitutional,”
In oppsition to the Trump swamp of corporate cronies and lobbyists are several voices of authority:
Democratic lawmakers who oppose the relocation plan said that at best, the IG report raises more questions about its legality.
“We all knew this move made no sense and was driven by ideology over science,”
said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
“Now, thanks to this new inspector general report, we also know that it was potentially illegal. Secretary [Sonny] Perdue has some serious questions to answer, and this fight is not over.”
Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that advanced the Agriculture Department’s appropriations bills, including the provision demanding committee approval of any relocation, called the inspector general’s findings “troubling.”
“The inspector general’s report simply adds another voice to the chorus of experienced professionals who know the ERS-NIFA relocation is a bad idea,”
Bishop said.
“As I have said before, there are many reasons this move does not add up. Now that the report has raised several troubling concerns, I again ask why only the Trump administration thinks this relocation is a good idea.”
So gutting science and union busting also may have played a role:
Peter Winch, special assistant to the national vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees, who has been in negotiations on behalf of research agency employees since they voted to unionize earlier this year, said that although he reached a tentative deal with management last month that would have provided a transition period of full-time telework to employees who agree to move and a relocation incentive to the tune of one month’s salary, the department has since stripped all specific language from the draft agreement.
[...]
In a statement Monday, AFGE National President J. David Cox blasted what he called anti-federal employee rhetoric.
“Mick Mulvaney’s comments confirm what our union has been saying all along: the administration’s decision to transfer hundreds of USDA jobs from D.C. isn’t about helping federal employees do their jobs better or delivering better services to the American taxpayer,”
Cox said.
“Their goal is to drive out hardworking and dedicated civil servants and silence the parts of the agencies’ research that the administration views as inconvenient.”
And typical Trump / GOP tactic; accuse their opponents of exactly what they are guilty of. This appears to be their main accusation:
“The budgetary provisions cited by the OIG report requiring committee approval have been ruled unconstitutional,”
Until we vote these crooks out of power, it’s pretty clear that 1) law-breaking and 2) violating the U.S. Constitution will continue.
On the positive side though; is that this maladministration appears to believe that both crimes are evidence of their power. There will come a time when both will be their undoing — imo