The USDA plans to sell a DC building, trim operations, and redistribute its workforce nationwide, calling its current state “bloated.”
WASHINGTON — The US Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday that it’s selling one of its buildings in downtown DC.
The move is part of a larger effort to reorganize government agencies and make them leaner.
USDA officials on Wednesday claimed that under the Biden administration, the agency, and its salaries, grew, with no discernible increase to services for its core constituencies.
They say the South Building emblematizes “bloated” government.
“If you were there, if you were to walk in the South Building today, here’s what you would find empty office after empty office after empty office. On any given day, more than 70% of the seats in this building sit empty,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said.
Along with getting rid of the South Building, Rollins said the agency will be vacating a facility in Alexandria.
The Agriculture Department is already on track to gradually shut down its sprawling research farm in Beltsville, despite pushback from state and local leaders in Annapolis and Prince George’s County.
The Department of Agriculture says it will relocate much of its workforce to five regional hubs scattered across the country.