Opposition to Moving ERS/NIFA Continues To Grow

USDA's proposal to move the Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) outside of the Washington, DC, metro area remains a plan that is generating more and more opposition. The latest voices that have been added to the choir opposing the move are all Democratic members of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. The lawmakers, headed by Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., introduced legislation Thursday to thwart the move. The Agriculture Research Integrity Act of 2018 would specify that ERS, NIFA and the National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) remain under the Undersecretary for Research Education and Economics, and "may not be vested in the head of another agency within the Department." That provision aims at the plan to reorganize the reporting structure for ERS and NIFA, putting them under the Office of the Chief Economist. As for the physical relocation of ERS and NIFA to somewhere outside the Washington, DC, metro, the legislation simply states those agencies must remain "within the National Capital Region." The legislation is also backed by some Democratic members of the House Ag Committee along with Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.