House Bill would Halt USDA Moves

House Bill would Halt USDA Moves

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett
USDA Reorg Update

House Representatives introduced a bill that would prohibit Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue from following through on what hundreds of scientists call an ill-conceived plan to reorganize and relocate hundreds of them at two key U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research agencies.

The Agricultural Research Integrity Act of 2018 (H.R. 7330) would prevent the move, which over 1,000 scientists have opposed on the grounds that it threatens scientific integrity at the department with little or no payoff to taxpayers. Incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and numerous House members support the bill.

Colorado State University Biology Professor and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Daniel Bush was one of hundreds of scientists who oppose the move..

"Agriculture and the basic questions we're trying to solve are frequently related to the same questions that we're solving with animals. Some of the pathogens with plants that plant pathologists are trying to solve use exactly identical pathways that human pathogens do so there's a great rich interchange between people who work on these different multicellular organisms."

The Union of Concerned Scientists says it hopes to see the bill passed into law in the new year.

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