May 6, 2025 – During her first appearance in front of Congress as Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins defended both USDA’s funding freeze and cuts to local food programs, research, and staff. She also said she’ll unveil a plan to move more USDA staff out of Washington, D.C. within the next few weeks.
The hearing today in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s agriculture subcommittee was scheduled to question Rollins about the President’s budget, released Friday. (She will appear in front of the House’s version of the same committee tomorrow.) The budget includes deep cuts to USDA spending, but it will not be enacted as is, since it will need a simple majority vote to pass in Congress, and there is some level of bipartisan opposition to cuts of that magnitude. Still, the budget reflects the president’s desire to slash spending across most agencies, and Rollins has been prioritizing that task during her first 82 days on the job.
Democrats grilled her on how cuts and freezes are impacting farmers and hungry families, while Republicans repeatedly praised her commitment to eliminating bureaucracy. However, many Senators shared concerns that crossed party lines, particularly about potential cuts to Farm Service Agency (FSA) staff who work directly with farmers in rural areas, freezing or cutting agriculture research, and the elimination of popular USAID programs that purchased American farm products to provide international food aid.
Here are the topics Rollins was asked about the most.
On the restructuring of the USDA and staff cuts: Republicans said they supported downsizing the agency, but many joined Democrats in asking Rollins to resist cutting staff at local FSA offices. “We do not have sufficient personnel in those county offices today,” said Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kansas). Rollins said FSA offices “remain a priority” and that the agency is not currently cutting staff or closing offices, but that the FSA is “also working to be again more efficient with online technical assistance so that in the future we may not rely so much on an on-the-ground presence.” Some FSA offices have already been targeted by DOGE for closure and the president’s budget would cut $358 million in FSA salaries and expenses.
Rollins confirmed that 15,000 USDA staff had accepted the administration’s deferred resignation offer, on top of earlier layoffs. Through those processes, she said the agency had lost people in key positions and is now “actively recruiting” to fill those positions.
“You let people go—or however you want to characterize it—who knew these jobs, and now you’re looking for people to fill these jobs because now we know how essential they are,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington). “That doesn’t seem to me to be very efficient.”
In response to a question posed by Senator Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Rollins said the agency is very close to finalizing a plan to move USDA staff from D.C. offices to other locations. “We are very in the weeds on that, and an announcement is forthcoming,” she said. During the last Trump administration, the USDA moved its Economic Research Service to Kansas City, leading to major losses in experienced staff with significant costs to taxpayers.
