NW Kansas News

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, questioned U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Stephen Alexander Vaden regarding the department’s recently announced reorganization plan. The proposal would move USDA staff to five hub locations: Kansas City, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

“I express my appreciation for the idea that work by federal employees and work for federal taxpayers and constituents, particularly farmers and ranchers, can be accomplished outside the D.C. area,” said Sen. Moran during the hearing. “I’ve been through this issue with you previously in the earlier administration and was pleased by the decision to have two research agencies relocated in Kansas City."

Sen. Moran stressed that employees being relocated should be required to work in person rather than remotely.

He also sought assurances from Deputy Secretary Vaden that the Kansas City Commodity Office will remain involved in international food aid programs such as Food for Peace. Additionally, he invited Vaden to visit USDA’s National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas.

During the Trump administration, USDA moved both the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture from Washington, D.C., to Kansas City.