House resolution aims to prevent ERS, NIFA move

On Dec. 20, members of Congress introduced H.R. 7330, the Agricultural Research Integrity Act of 2018, in the U.S. House of Representatives, which would block the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) moves to relocate the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and realign ERS under the chief economist. The proposed bill would amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 first announced in August by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.Several scientific organizations and members of the broader research and statistical stakeholder community welcomed the resolution's introduction."This bill would ensure that ERS is fully funded and fully functional, necessary to understanding the impacts of the new farm bill that will spend some $850 billion over the next eight years on programs that touch more than 40 million Americans," said Susan Offutt, ERS administrator under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.