Rollins on Back to Office

From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. USDA Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins said at her confirmation hearing last week that she’s committed to curtailing work-from-home policies to get staffers back in the office.

Rollins faced questions about getting USDA employees back in the office after President Trump ordered an end to pandemic-era agency work policies.

Kansas Republican Jerry Moran complained that despite

Trump’s moving some 400 economic research and food grant staff to Kansas City in his first term, only 20% are in the office …

MORAN … “In my view, the purpose of the move was defeated in the reality of telling people, ‘Well, you stay in D.C. and work from home.’ And that fits in with what conversation a number of us have had about actually getting USDA and other federal employees back in the office.”

Moran’s complaint was well received by Rollins …

ROLLINS … “I 100-percent agree with you. I am extremely excited to get our workforce back into the office, whether it’s here in Washington or out across the country. I think in the business we are in at USDA, a customer business, and being available for our customers, whether that’s up in Senator Welch’s Vermont or my Texas, wherever it is, that we have people in the office. So, that will be a very big priority of mine.”

The exchange follows years of complaints of short staffing at USDA and other agencies, both pandemic-related and, before that, at much-visited offices like those of the Farm Service Agency.