It was preceded by six governmentwide short-term funding bills or “continuing resolutions”--the most in recent memory to precede a USDA funding bill--but USDA’s appropriation for FY 2001 was ultimately signed into law on October 28, 28 days into the new fiscal year. What follows are some highlights thought to be of particular interest to USDA employees.

Steve Dewhurst, director of the Office of Budget & Program Analysis, said that USDA’s FY 2001 budget provides nearly $77.7 billion in budget authority for the Department. That figure includes a $4.4 billion appropriation for the Forest Service which, for budget purposes, is part of the “Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations,” which was signed into law on October 11.

The $77.7 billion funding, the end product of congressional conference committee efforts and negotiations with executive branch budget officials, compared to $76.7 billion in budget authority originally passed by the House of Representatives, $77.3 billion in budget authority originally passed by the Senate, and nearly $79.5 billion in budget authority requested by the Clinton Administration as part of its FY 2001 governmentwide budget proposal.

The original budget proposal for USDA called for a federal staffing level for FY 2001 of 100,501 full-time equivalent positions, or federal staff years. That would have represented an increase of 2,346 federal staff years from the FY 2000 staff year ceiling which was estimated on February 7 to be at 98,155.

As detailed in a story in the January-February 2000 issue of the USDA News, 14 USDA agencies or staff offices reflected proposed increases in federal staff years and 3 reflected proposed decreases from FY 2000 federal staff year levels.

However, based on the funding figure passed into law, Dewhurst projected that the federal staff years for most USDA agencies would basically remain at FY 2000 levels.

Of Particular Interest
OBPA Associate Director Larry Wachs noted that USDA’s final budget for FY 2001 includes these items thought to be of particular interest to employees:

1. It provides an estimated $4.2 billion in disaster assistance for America’s farmers and ranchers for recent weather-related crop losses and market losses. For budget purposes, this $4.2 billion figure is separate from USDA’s FY 2001 budget figure of $77.7 billion.
2. It provides $1.8 billion to implement the National Fire Plan--which outlines the Department’s plans for immediate and short-term activities to help rehabilitate those areas affected by wildfires during FY 2000--and to assist rural communities in recovering from those fires.
3. It continues a prohibition against USDA agencies using budget funds to acquire new information technology systems or significant upgrades, as determined by the Office of the Chief Information Officer, without the approval of the Chief Information Officer and the concurrence of USDA’s Executive Information Technology Investment Review Board.
4. It provides nearly $60 million--a decrease from the $75 million requested--for the implementation of USDA’s “common computing environment.” As part of the Department’s field office modernization plan for its county-based agencies (the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Rural Development), all USDA Service Center agency offices around the country are to have a “common computing environment” allowing efficient e-mail, records transfer, and streamlined business processes for better customer service.
5. It continues a prohibition on the use of available funds to implement the Support Services Bureau, which was to be created as part of USDA’s “administrative convergence” initiative. As part of that initiative, three administrative structures that once provided support in the areas of human resources, financial management, information technology, civil rights, and management services for the Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services mission area, the Rural Development mission area, and NRCS were to be combined into one new structure, the Support Services Bureau, and was to be effective October 1, 1999.
6. It allows USDA more flexibility in hiring employees, for support services for overseas operations, through the use of Personal Service Agreements.
7. It provides nearly $64 million, nearly double the FY 2000 level, in earmarked development funding, through USDA’s Rural Development Programs, for American Indian communities.
8. It continues the prohibition of non-reimbursable employee details for more than 30 days.
9. It urges USDA’s Secretary to use ethanol, biodiesal, and other alternative fuels to the maximum extent practicable to meet the Department’s fuel needs.
10. It provides $74.2 million for construction and renovation of Agricultural Research Service labs. This includes $9 million for the first phase of a joint ARS/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service modernization effort of facilities located in Ames, Iowa, and $13.3 million for continuing modernization efforts at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Maryland.
11. It provides the $26 million USDA requested for continued renovation of the South Building at USDA headquarters in Washington, DC.