Rep. Calvert Amendment Addresses USDA Staff Deployment to the Border during Drought Disaster

Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) offered an amendment addressing the crisis at our southern border during the House Appropriations Committee's consideration of the Fiscal Year 2022 Agriculture Appropriations bill. Rep. Calvert's amendment would prohibit the solicitation and deployment of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees to supplement normal operations at the border unless an emergency is declared by the president. Earlier this year, it was announced that the USDA intended to send 500 employees to the border to assist with the border crisis. The amendment was defeated on a party-line vote of 25 to 33.

"When the USDA announced it was sending 500 employees to the border, I was shocked by USDA's assertion that the loss of 500 staffers for several months would not affect day-to-day operations," said Rep. Calvert. "The historic drought conditions across the West have triggered a formal federal disaster declaration and are impacting our farmers. If the administration believes hundreds of positions at USDA can be sacrificed during a federal disaster and sent to the border that is a tacit admission that the situation at the border is far worse than a federal disaster. We continue to have a wide gap between the rhetoric coming out of the Biden Administration and the humanitarian, drug, and security crisis at the border."

On May 7, 2021, Rep. Calvert and Rep. Doug LaMalfa (CA-1) were joined by 35 of their House colleagues in sending a letter to USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra regarding reports that USDA is planning to send 500 employees to the southern border in response to the ongoing crisis. To date, USDA has not responded to the issues and questions posed in the letter.