LaHood calls on USDA to support critical agricultural research in home district

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) on April 20 called for lifting a hiring freeze on the Peoria, Ill., agriculture research lab and for filling vacant research positions there to support the agricultural economy, after the fiscal year 2018 federal omnibus spending bill included sufficient funding to keep the lab open.

In a bipartisan letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky, Rep. LaHood and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) noted that 25 researcher positions remain unfilled at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria. It is currently staffed at just 63 percent of its 350-employee capacity. The hiring freeze, the lawmakers wrote, is “directly impacting agriculture research and the rural economy.”

“Funding Peoria’s ag lab was the first step in maintaining this vital part of our agricultural economy, but now we must help it reach its full potential,” said Rep. LaHood, who was born and raised in Peoria and represents the 18th District of Illinois. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. Joint Economic Committee.

“Congresswoman Bustos and I are requesting an end to the hiring freeze to bring in more researchers and staff, ensuring that the ag lab can continue its decades of agricultural research breakthroughs. Doing so will be a win not just for the lab itself, but for the entire nation,” Rep. LaHood said.

Operating under the USDA Agricultural Research Services (ARS), the Peoria lab conducts research to boost agricultural production, enhance food safety and public health, spur economic development and advance environmental sustainability, according to NCAUR. The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposed closing the Peoria lab, but the House Appropriations Committee approved funding for the lab in July 2017, according to the letter.

Reps. LaHood and Bustos’ letter notes that USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue testified during a committee hearing on the president’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal that “research is one of those areas where we may have missed the mark … because research is really the basis of our ag productivity today.” Perdue added that he hoped funding would be appropriated for USDA ARS.

Rep. LaHood’s office cited a phone call in which Deputy Secretary Censky told Rep. Bustos in February that the NCAUR hiring freeze would be lifted after Congress completed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, H.R. 1625, incorporating a provision to keep the Peoria lab open.

The letter adds, however, that NCAUR still didn’t have authority to fill vacant positions more than four weeks after the bill was signed into law on March 23.

“We believe it would be unacceptable for the administration to continue the hiring freeze in light of consistent, clear instructions to the contrary,” the letter states. “Congress has repeatedly signaled to the administration through our budget and through the appropriations process that the lab should continue its important work and we hope to see that reflected in the administration’s actions.”

The lawmakers wrote that, “In light of the ongoing low commodity prices, due in part to administration actions that have threatened or limited both domestic and trade markets for our crops, it is even more important that we continue the research necessary to develop new products and new uses that can help create new market opportunities for producers.”

Reps. LaHood and Bustos concluded the letter by calling on the USDA to quickly address hiring issues at NCAUR.