Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins defended her agency’s deep staff reductions Tuesday in her first appearance before a congressional committee since being confirmed to lead the Department of Agriculture.
Testifying to the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on the administration’s fiscal 2026 budget outline, Rollins compared the 15,000 employees who have taken a deferred resignation offer to those who would normally leave the agency every year through attrition.
That analysis didn’t sit well with a top Democratic lawmaker.
“We’re making things more efficient,” Rollins told Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Appropriations chair, who asked why the USDA let so many workers go that it’s now looking to refill some positions. Annual attrition is typically between 8,000 and 10,000, Rollins said.
