WASHINGTON — With no short-term budget agreement reached by lawmakers before the deadline, the U.S. government plunged into shutdown mode Wednesday and that is expected to affect programs and funding meted out by the USDA and its various agencies.
The USDA posted its “shutdown plan” early Wednesday detailing how staffing, payments and programs at the massive agency will be affected and what operations will grind to a halt until a budget agreement can be reached in Congress.
The 55-page “USDA Lapse Plan” released publicly calls for 42,256 employees to be furloughed under its plan out of 85,000 employees who were on before the plan was to be implemented.
The plan describes nearly 31,000 employees to be retained who are “necessary to protect life and property,” along with 11,500 whose compensation is financed through a budget other than annual appropriations.
CLICK HERE to see the USDA’s full plan.
The USDA says it will continue operations related to:
- Certain farm loan processing items
- Natural resource and conservation programs
- Core nutrition safety net programs,
- Essential food safety operations (inspections and laboratory work) to protect public health
- Responding to and preparing for wildland fires,
- Animal and plant health emergency programs (including new world screwworm, highly pathogenic avian influenza, exotic fruit flies, African swine fever, and rabies)
- Section 521 Rental Assistance Program outlays of prior obligations
- Critical IT infrastructure and cybersecurity, emergency operations, and national defense and homeland security readiness
According to the plan, the USDA will cease operations related to:
- Payment and disaster assistance processing and technical assistance;
- Contracts and agreements not related to exempted programs;
- Financial management beyond funds management;
- Regulatory work, travel, trainings, trade negotiations, special use permits, surveys for high-risk plant pests and diseases for certain swine, cattle, and aquatic animal diseases,
- long-term studies and research on animal diseases, and;
- The majority of Risk Management Agency, NRCS, Foreign Agricultural Service, Food and Nutrition Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Statistical Service, Rural Development, and staff office activities.
