Vilsack: USDA must furlough meat inspectors under sequestration
March 01, 2013 | 03:34 PM
By JERRY HAGSTROM
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service must furlough meat inspectors under sequestration because 87 percent of the FSIS budget is for inspection, and the Budget Control Act requires cuts in each program, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters here today after a speech to the Commodity Classic.
The law requiring the federal government to cut about $85 billion in spending by September 30 goes into effect at midnight tonight and will require a cut of 5 to 6 percent at USDA. But Vilsack said the percentage will effectively be double that because the cuts must take place over a six to seven month period.
Speaking to the audience of more than 6,000 corn, soybean, sorghum and wheat farmers and other attendees, Vilsack explained that even if the Obama administration tried to cut everything else at FSIS to avoid the furloughs, which are estimated at 15 days per inspector, it would be impossible for the inspectors to do their job because they depend on the testing, analysis and “back-room stuff” that other FSIS employees do.
He also noted that it would be impossible to keep the inspectors on the job by furloughing other employees because the law limits an individual employee’s furlough to 22 days.
“You could furlough everybody else and you would still have to furlough the inspectors,” Vilsack said.
In an apparent reference to official Washington, he said, “I have to apologize to all of you because this is crazy what has happened. In a functioning democracy this shouldn’t happen. People should recognize we have fiscal issues and we ought to address them [through] a combination of additional revenue and cuts.”
Vilsack said his “one ask” of the audience today was “Stand up and say to our leaders in Washington, forget about the party, the people who fund your campaigns … the next elections. Think about me [the farmer], think about us, end the sequester, get a budget passed, pass a five-year farm bill.”
If those things happen, Vilsack said, the farmers could promise Congress that they would continue “the greatest agricultural production in the history of mankind.”
The USDA cut most likely to affect the general public is the furloughing of meat inspectors, because meat must be inspected to be sold and plants will have to close if a meat inspector is not on the job.
Furloughing meat inspectors “is not something I want to do, it is not something I like doing, but it is the law and something I have to do,” Vilsack said.
Although the secretary has said the agency will attempt to handle the meat inspection furloughs with as little disruption has possible, he pointed out today that the furloughs will affect the jobs of another 250,000 people and reduce meat exports by about $8 billion.
It’s unclear when the meat inspection furloughs will begin because the union contract with the meat inspectors requires “an oral conference,” Vilsack said.
Meat industry officials and some Republicans in Congress have suggested that Vilsack could somehow shift money to keep the inspectors on the job to comply with the meat inspection law, but Vilsack said the sequestration law would not allow that.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and other senators have asked for a legal opinion on the sequestration issue. Vilsack said USDA is developing that opinion, but he added that Grassley and his colleagues “know the USDA budget.”
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service must furlough meat inspectors under sequestration because 87 percent of the FSIS budget is for inspection, and the Budget Control Act requires cuts in each program, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters here today after a speech to the Commodity Classic.
The law requiring the federal government to cut about $85 billion in spending by September 30 goes into effect at midnight tonight and will require a cut of 5 to 6 percent at USDA. But Vilsack said the percentage will effectively be double that because the cuts must take place over a six to seven month period.
Speaking to the audience of more than 6,000 corn, soybean, sorghum and wheat farmers and other attendees, Vilsack explained that even if the Obama administration tried to cut everything else at FSIS to avoid the furloughs, which are estimated at 15 days per inspector, it would be impossible for the inspectors to do their job because they depend on the testing, analysis and “back-room stuff” that other FSIS employees do.
He also noted that it would be impossible to keep the inspectors on the job by furloughing other employees because the law limits an individual employee’s furlough to 22 days.
“You could furlough everybody else and you would still have to furlough the inspectors,” Vilsack said.
In an apparent reference to official Washington, he said, “I have to apologize to all of you because this is crazy what has happened. In a functioning democracy this shouldn’t happen. People should recognize we have fiscal issues and we ought to address them [through] a combination of additional revenue and cuts.”
Vilsack said his “one ask” of the audience today was “Stand up and say to our leaders in Washington, forget about the party, the people who fund your campaigns … the next elections. Think about me [the farmer], think about us, end the sequester, get a budget passed, pass a five-year farm bill.”
If those things happen, Vilsack said, the farmers could promise Congress that they would continue “the greatest agricultural production in the history of mankind.”
The USDA cut most likely to affect the general public is the furloughing of meat inspectors, because meat must be inspected to be sold and plants will have to close if a meat inspector is not on the job.
Furloughing meat inspectors “is not something I want to do, it is not something I like doing, but it is the law and something I have to do,” Vilsack said.
Although the secretary has said the agency will attempt to handle the meat inspection furloughs with as little disruption has possible, he pointed out today that the furloughs will affect the jobs of another 250,000 people and reduce meat exports by about $8 billion.
It’s unclear when the meat inspection furloughs will begin because the union contract with the meat inspectors requires “an oral conference,” Vilsack said.
Meat industry officials and some Republicans in Congress have suggested that Vilsack could somehow shift money to keep the inspectors on the job to comply with the meat inspection law, but Vilsack said the sequestration law would not allow that.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and other senators have asked for a legal opinion on the sequestration issue. Vilsack said USDA is developing that opinion, but he added that Grassley and his colleagues “know the USDA budget.”
