More than 15,000 employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have accepted the Trump administration’s offer to resign amid the department’s job cuts, a USDA spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller on Saturday.
As of Thursday, 15,182 individuals have “voluntarily elected deferred resignation,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Caller. During the first deferred resignation program offered at the USDA back in January, exactly 3,877 employees agreed to the deal, according to POLITICO. During the second wave, 11,305 employees reportedly agreed to the terms. More resignations may follow.
The USDA’s offer allows employees to quit their jobs and still get paid through September. The resignation numbers account for about 15% of the department’s total workforce, the outlet reported.
“As part of this reorientation, the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP), a completely voluntary tool, was used to empower employees to decide what is best for them,” a USDA spokesperson told the Daily Caller.
The USDA handles food safety, farm loans, rural broadband initiatives and federal nutrition programs, the outlet said. (RELATED: HHS Employees Reportedly Offered $25,000 Buyout To Quit Their Jobs)
“President Biden and [former] Secretary [Tom] Vilsack left USDA in complete disarray, including hiring thousands of employees with no sustainable way to pay them,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Caller. “Secretary [Brooke] Rollins is working to reorient the department to be more effective and efficient at serving the American people, including by prioritizing farmers, ranchers, and producers. She will not compromise the critical work of the Department.”
The area of the USDA facing the most resignations is the U.S. Forest Service, according to POLITICO. The agency is facing more than 4,000 resignations amid the Trump administration’s plans to cut the Forest Service’s budget.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service, which has helped deal with the bird flu outbreak and handles meat inspections, lost 555 employees to the resignation program, the outlet reported. Over 2,400 employees resigned from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which assists farmers in managing livestock and soil. An additional 1,000 staffers from the Farm Service Agency and county office decided to leave.
