USDA inspectors to be furloughed this summer, Vilsack says

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will furlough USDA inspectors for 11 days beginning this summer, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday.

In a telephone interview with the Lee Enterprises' Des Moines bureau, Vilsack said the furloughs would start in July and extend possibly through September in order to minimize the impact on processing plants nationwide.

The USDA employs 6,200 inspectors subject to the automatic federal budget cuts that took effect March 1 and continue for the next decade.

“We've been trying to identify procedures” for the furloughs since the budget cuts hit, Vilsack said. He testified about the inevitability of furloughs in front of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee last week.

The inspectors are critical to processing operations. Federal law requires that meat products be inspected and that only the USDA can certify those inspectors.

Without an inspector, processing lines can't run. That creates a chain reaction on the front end with suppliers who deliver livestock to processing plants and the back end when the product ships for retail. An 11-day furlough would cost $8 billion in agriculture exports, according to USDA figures.

Vilsack said budget cut language is worded in such a way that it prohibits him from transferring money from other areas of the department to pay for food inspectors.

“I have no other option,” he said.

Vilsack added there are three ways Congress can avoid the cuts: pass a continuing resolution to provide money for the inspectors; give the department the authority to make transfers in the department budget; or come up with a “grand bargain” to avoid the cut.

Any of these can be enacted up until the point of the furlough, he said.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said there's little the state can do to keep the plants running if federal inspectors are furloughed.

“I hope they can work it out to make the impact even less; maybe spread it out over a longer term,” Northey said.

He said if Vilsack's understanding of the budget cut language is correct, the USDA needs more discretion in how to carry out the cuts.

“This is a critical operation,” he said. “Maybe give (the USDA) more flexibility with the details.”