USDA Employees Reinstated For Now

A decision by the Merit Systems Protection Board is temporarily reinstating nearly 6,000 USDA employees. Probationary Agriculture Department employees removed from their job on or after February 13 will be back on the job until April 18 while the Special Counsel determines if this workforce reduction was done legally. Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar said this was ‘an important but temporary step.’ The Minnesota senator said there is a difference between reform and gutting important services, like avian flu and farm loans.