More Than 15,000 USDA Employees Have Taken Federal Buyout

WASHINGTON—More than 15,000 employees from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have accepted a buyout offer from the federal government, resigning or taking early retirement in exchange for months of paid leave and benefits.

Just over 3,800 workers took the first offer, which was made in February. Over 11,300 took the offer when it came around again in April.

A spokesperson for the USDA said that, despite the reduction in workforce, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins will not allow the “critical work of the Department” to be compromised.

Rollins’s intention is to make the department “more effective and efficient,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, “by prioritizing farmers, ranchers, and producers.”

The Deferred Resignation or Deferred Retirement programs were “a completely voluntary tool … to empower employees to decide what is best for them,” the spokesperson said.

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“These 53 position classifications carry out functions that are critical to the safety and security of the American people,” the statement said.

“‘Food security is national security,’ and Secretary Rollins will not compromise this critical work.”

The government-wide buyout offers were made as part of a larger effort by President Donald Trump to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy to cut costs.

Others were not so keen on the idea.

One employee at another department—the Department of Labor that is tasked with administering and enforcing laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemployment benefits, reemployment services, and economic statistics—speaking on the condition anonymity over privacy concerns, said he and many of his colleagues valued their jobs too much to quit.

“I would have absolutely no reason to take it,” he told The Epoch Times on April 29.

“For one thing, I’m a public servant. I’m a federal employee. I’m there to help the people, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

He said his department had been offered both rounds of the buyout, but a long, paid “vacation” between jobs was not as important as the public impact of his work.

“I found the offer insulting. You know, getting paid to sit at home for a while, and then what? I get it for my colleagues who are retirement age, but for others, no … If this administration wants to get rid of me, it’s going to have to fire me,” he said.

He also said the buyout made no logistical sense to him, as his office was already severely understaffed.

Zack Stieber contributed to this report.