In a speech to the Republican Party’s Silver Elephant Gala in South Carolina, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney rejoices in his dirty efforts to unethically remove federal employees who feel safest in “liberal havens.”
“You’ve heard about ‘drain the swamp.’ What you probably haven’t heard is what we are actually doing. I don’t know if you saw the news the other day, but the USDA just tried to move, or did move, two offices out of Washington, D.C.
“Yes, you can applaud that one. That’s what we’ve been talking about doing. Guess what happened? Guess what happened? More than half the people quit.
“It’s nearly impossible to fire a federal worker. I know that because a lot of them work for me, and I’ve tried… By simply saying to people, ‘You know what, we’re going to take you outside the bubble, outside the Beltway, outside this liberal haven of Washington, D.C., and move you out in the real part of the country,’ and they quit — what a wonderful way to sort of streamline government, and do what we haven’t been able to do for a long time.”
White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney
The plan to push certain employees out of their positions began in August 2018 when Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a plan to relocate the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Research Service from Washington D.C.
In June, the new location, Kansas City, was announced, and employees were told they would have to relocate their families. Two-thirds of the nearly 400 employees refused and accepted that they would lose their jobs.
Clever as Mulvaney may think he is, what he’s doing is very likely illegal.
Congress questioned whether USDA has the legal authority to move the agencies. The department has this power, according to the inspector general’s investigation. But USDA also needs budgetary approval from Congress to fund the moves, the watchdog group said, which the department did not obtain.
In the fall, USDA awarded a $340,000 contract to the accounting firm Ernst & Young to assist with the relocation. The 2018 omnibus spending bill required USDA to receive congressional approval before spending this money. “That prior approval did not appear to have been granted,” the inspector general report says.
This expense may have also violated the Antideficiency Act, the report said, which prevents federal employees from involving the government “in a contract or obligation for the payment of money before an appropriation is made.”
The Washington Post
At the time of his speech, the Trump Administration also plans to exert a similar scheme on 80% of the staff at the Bureau of Land Management and 5,500 employees at the Office of Personnel Management.
When the Trumps moved in, they basically put a “USA: Going out of business sale!” sign on the White House lawn. Hostile state and non-state actors came calling. They are stripping the country down and selling it for parts. They will not stop unless they are indicted and removed.
Sarah Kendzior
Sources
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/08/05/usda-science-agencies-relocation-may-have-violated-law-inspector-general-report-says/
https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/1102034239644712960
Photo: Public Domain
