USDA eases back into the office

Feb 28, 2022

With help from Meredith Lee, Helena Bottemiller Evich and Doug Palmer

QUICK FIX

— Top officials at the Agriculture Department are starting to return to the office today, as the Biden administration maps out plans to bring federal employees back to in-person work nearly two years after the pandemic began.

— As of today, the use of the insecticide chlorpyrifos is illegal for use on food products across the country. The agrichemical was already illegal in some states and has seen declining sales.

— Senators are calling for answers on the Abbott Nutrition infant formula recall after a POLITICO report found multiple agencies and the company knew about the illnesses months before a recall was issued.

IT'S MONDAY, FEB. 28. Welcome to Morning Ag, where your host is closely watching the Hank the Tank saga. Send tips to xbustillo@politico.com and @ximena_bustillo, and follow us @Morning_Ag.

HAPPENING TODAY: A WOMEN RULE INTERVIEW: Join Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, and Morning Money author Kate Davidson for a conversation exploring President Biden's economic agenda, the administration's plans to tackle financial losses women suffered during the pandemic and what it will take to elevate more women to leadership ranks in the U.S. economy. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories.

DRIVING THE WEEK

USDA'S BACK-TO-OFFICE PLAN: Federal agencies are starting to implement their return-to-office plans nearly two years after many employees transitioned to working from home as the pandemic unfolded.

USDA is bringing senior employees back into offices today and plans to bring back all other workers in phases starting March 28, according to a senior department official.

That date is subject to approval by the Office of Management and Budget, which is coordinating return-to-office plans across the executive branch.

USDA's frontline workers: Of course, thousands of firefighters, meat inspectors and other frontline workers at USDA have been working in-person since the pandemic began.

Throwback: Regular MA readers may recall that the department in November expanded telework eligibility and established a remote work policy, per an internal memo obtained by our Pro Ag team. Those flexibilities are likely to remain in place as offices reopen.

Office politics: GOP senators for months have been calling for all USDA employees to return to work in person, especially those stationed beyond the Beltway, claiming that the remote work flexibilities could result in a slowdown of USDA's most public-facing programs, like those managed by the Farm Service Agency.

Secretary Tom Vilsack, however, maintains that the department has been as productive as ever with the telework expansion in place.

"We keep track of the level of work that's being done at Farm Service Agencies to try and see whether or not the pandemic has negatively impacted the ability to get work done," Vilsack told the House Agriculture Committee in January, citing the high number of USDA loans issued in fiscal 2021. "In fact, we are continuing to work at pre-pandemic levels."

Getting back to normal: The move also comes as Biden administration officials and Democrats are beginning to make a bigger push for a "return to normalcy." A memo written by Democratic firm Impact Research and published by Punchbowl News on Friday outlines strategies for Democrats to change the way the pandemic is discussed ahead of the upcoming elections.

CHLORPYRIFOS CRACKDOWN TAKES EFFECT: The EPA officially denied all objections to its final rule that makes the insecticide chlorpyrifos illegal for use on food products within the U.S., as of today. The agency also rejected all requests for a hearing on the objections and a temporary stay of the rule.

ICYMI: The EPA in August decided to ban nearly all uses of the pesticide , which has been widely used to grow crops like fruits, vegetables, nuts, corn and wheat, but was also linked to neurological problems in children.

The August order set the pesticide on track to be phased out from usage on food crops after six months, making Feb. 28 the official cutoff date.

Worker advocates and environmental groups, who have been calling for a ban for over a decade, hailed the move. But numerous agriculture industry groups ultimately sued the EPA over the restrictions — the objections that the agency just denied.

Already winding down: Corteva announced in 2020 that it would stop selling the chemical, citing declining sales. And individual states including California, New York, Hawaii and Maryland had already banned the use, sale, distribution and possession of chlorpyrifos before the EPA order.

EQUITY COMMISSION, COMMENCE: USDA's new Equity Commission and its subcommittee on agriculture will publicly meet for the first time this morning to kick off its review of USDA programs and policies.

To recap, the commission was formed to make recommendations on how the department can improve access to its programs and advance equity within the industry. As your host reported earlier this month, 28 educators, farmers, industry leaders and other advocates were appointed by Vilsack to sit on the commission.

Two-year timeline: The effort will serve as an "external review" of the department — fulfilling a Biden campaign promise. Within a year, the commission will publish an interim report and provide recommendations, followed by a final report within two years.

More action soon: Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh told your host the department will issue an "equity action plan" and a "diversity and inclusion strategic plan" as soon as March.

Pros can refresh themselves on the lineup of Equity Commission appointees here, and members of the public can register to observe the meeting here.

SENATE DEMANDS ANSWERS ON FORMULA RECALL: Two Democratic senators sent a letter to the CEO of Abbott Nutrition requesting information and documents related to the infant formula recall that began earlier this month, following our Helena Bottemiller Evich's report that the FDA, CDC and Abbott all knew about the first infant illness months before a recall was issued.

The latest: As Helena now reports , the letter comes as the CDC says it has received reports of more Cronobacter sakazakii cases that may be tied to the outbreak, beyond the four previously known hospitalizations, including one death.

Abbott's response: Abbott Nutrition didn't have an immediate comment on the letter, but the company says it took swift action. "Abbott conducts extensive quality checks on each completed batch of infant formula, including microbiological analysis prior to release," spokesman Jonathon Hamilton said.

From the FDA: The agency said Friday it's working to ease supply chain issues as parents have faced formula shortages across the country, and it's coordinating with USDA because so much of the recalled formula was part of the WIC program, which provides nutrition to millions of low-income parents and young children. The recall sent dozens of state agencies scrambling to reassure parents and help them replace recalled products.

More questions: FDA has so far declined to respond to several of POLITICO's questions about the timeline and inspection history of the Abbott plant in question. If you have a tip, email Helena hbottemiller@politico.com.

Trade Corner

RUSSIA'S RIPPLE-EFFECTS ON AG, TRADE: U.S. officials are closely monitoring the potential trade fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, particularly given the latter's status as "an agricultural powerhouse," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said at USDA's Outlook Forum on Friday.

Vilsack noted that Ukraine is "the fourth largest exporter of agricultural products in the world, so obviously there are some serious issues."

"And it exports, interestingly, in a lot of different areas," he added. "[Ukraine] exports quite a bit to China. It exports quite a bit to the Middle East and Africa, North Africa, and also to Europe as well."

In an opinion piece for POLITICO Magazine, experts at the maritime and resource security firm I.R. Consilium said the U.S. needs to act quickly to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from weaponizing Ukraine's grain supplies.

Crop control: "After just one day of the invasion, Russia effectively controlled nearly a third of the world's wheat exports, three-quarters of the world's sunflower oil exports, and substantial amounts of barley, soy and other grain supply chains," the authors wrote.

"Ukraine alone accounts for 16 percent of the world's corn exports and has been one of the fastest-growing corn producers — a dynamic particularly critical to meeting China's rapidly growing demand for corn."

STILL NO CANADIAN DAIRY DEAL: Canadian trade minister Mary Ng is in town today to give a pair of speeches, one at the Wilson Center on how to make trade more inclusive and the other at the Brookings Institution on implementation of the USMCA trade pact, our Pro Trade colleagues tell MA.

Notably, the visit highlights the fact that the U.S. still has not resolved a dispute over Canada's allocation of tariff-rate quotas for dairy products, more than two months after a USMCA dispute settlement panel ruled in Washington's favor. Canadian officials in early February said that they have given the U.S. a proposal for reallocating the tariffs.

The panel's ruling allows the U.S. to retaliate on potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in Canadian goods if no deal is reached. Tai said on Friday that the Biden administration will continue to push Canada to make good on its dairy commitments.

Tough going on China, too: At the USDA event, Tai said talks with China are growing increasingly difficult over the implementation of the Phase One trade deal. But she indicated USTR would press on with negotiations, for now.

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

Row Crops

— FIRST IN MA: A bipartisan group of more than 40 lawmakers are urging Secretary of State Anthony Blinken not to increase fees on H-2A agricultural worker visas. The State Department proposed a fee increase for agricultural visas that would raise the cost for farming employers by 63 percent. The lawmakers argue that since farmers heavily rely on foreign labor, the fee increase could pose a financial burden on producers. Read the letter here.

— State leaders and business owners are getting rid of their Russian-made vodka in protest of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. But most vodkas sold in the U.S. are not made in Russia. USA Today has more.

— A Labor Department investigation found that an Idaho potato farm failed to legally pay workers and reimburse their transportation costs. The Idaho Statesman has the story.

— The U.S. Customs and Immigration Service has launched an H-2A Employer Data Hub aimed at providing information on ag employers petitioning for temporary foreign workers.

— Starbucks employees at a store in Mesa, Ariz. have voted to unionize, joining a growing list of locations that have organized since December. Bloomberg has the story.

THAT'S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: xbustillo@politico.com; hbottemiller@politico.com; meredithlee@politico.com and gmott@politico.com.