Attorney General Clark Joins Coalition Opposing Attempt to gut U.S. Department of Agriculture

Attorney General Charity Clark joined a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in filing an amicus brief today in support of a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s thinly veiled attempt to drive large numbers of employees to resign by forcing them to move across the country. The brief supports a motion for a preliminary injunction in American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, et al. v. Trump, et al., a case pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Attorney General Clark and the coalition argue that USDA's "reorganization" would not benefit the agency or the states. Instead, it would harm Vermont and other states who partner with USDA on essential programs to prevent wildfires, protect food safety and security, and administer food assistance to our most vulnerable residents.

In the brief, the coalition urges the Northern District of California to halt the USDA's reorganization plan to protect states from this imminent harm. Attorney General Clark and the coalition join the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, and many other labor organizations, counties, municipalities, nonprofits, and member organizations around the country who challenge the proposed USDA reorganization.

Vermont and local governments across the state depend upon the Forest Service for wildfire prevention, wildfire response, land-management partnerships, and scientific expertise. As USDA Forest Service personnel are pushed out, the agency will have reduced capacity and lose specialized expertise, exposing Vermont lands and communities to unnecessary harm.

Vermont also relies on USDA Food and Nutrition Administration personnel for program administration, guidance, funding, oversight, and coordination. The reorganization threatens Vermont's ability to efficiently administer critical nutrition-assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, child and school-based nutrition programs, and nutrition-related disaster assistance.

Similarly, Vermont and other states rely on USDA research agencies for information and data concerning agriculture, food production, conservation, pests, plant and animal health, and food safety. The USDA plans to close the flagship Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), which has been the home of the Agricultural Research Service and is widely regarded as one of the most advanced and influential agricultural research centers in the world. Shuttering this lab would harm not just agriculture, but public health. Scientists at BARC are currently studying cyclospora, a foodborne parasite that can cause severe illness, while the United States is in the midst of the worst cyclospora outbreak on record. Every scientist on at least one ongoing cyclospora project at BARC has declined to move across the country and will instead be forced to resign from USDA, leaving the future of this research uncertain.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to dramatically slash protections and programs that states and people rely on, including food safety, environmental protection, natural disaster funding, and funding for victims of crime. In the case of USDA, Trump political appointees are hoping to cut as much as 46% of USDA's workforce. One way they are attempting to force people out is through this drastic reorganization, which forces employees to choose between moving across the country despite family and personal obligations-and in many cases taking a significant pay cut-or quitting their jobs. The coalition's brief highlights the harms to public health and safety that would follow and urges the court to protect these programs and employees.

This brief was led by the attorneys general of California, Maryland, and Washington. Vermont joined the brief with the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Virginia.