Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) today questioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on reports that the agency obstructed and effectively shut down an investigation into possible civil rights abuses at the department. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which was conducting the audit, USDA officials delayed information on the case and in some cases, instructed USDA employees to not comply with GAO.
GAO launched an investigation into USDA’s civil rights policies and practices at the request of Senators Harkin, Lugar, Towns and Grassley. Civil rights reforms, including establishment of the position of Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, were included in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and the lawmakers requested an update on the progress of their implementation.
“The actions of the Department of Agriculture are unjustified,” wrote the lawmakers. “Given USDA’s documented history of civil rights abuses, one of which led to a consent decree that, to date, has paid out nearly one billion dollars in settlements to black farmers, USDA’s unwillingness to provide documentation to GAO raises very serious questions whether the Department is serious about stopping civil rights abuses. In addition, because GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, your Department’s denial of access of GAO to records and employees also denies Congress its role in providing effective and appropriate oversight.”
The full text of the letter follows.
March 3, 2008
The Honorable Ed Schafer
Secretary of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Schafer:
On April 27, 2006 we wrote to the Government Accountability Office asking that they undertake a comprehensive review of USDA’s civil rights performance following passage of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. We initiated this review because of USDA’s long and troubled history with respect to civil rights compliance.
According to its normal operating procedure, the GAO has periodically kept us apprised of its progress on this review. We are concerned by the reports that GAO has provided to us.
First, GAO has informed us that the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at USDA has repeatedly withheld access to certain records that GAO feels are critical to performing its work, and rather than providing full cooperation, USDA officials have told GAO that it either does not have rights to access documents, or that USDA’s Office of General Counsel has advised them that records should be withheld. If true, doing so would either obstruct or delay GAO’s work.
Second, GAO has informed us that USDA officials have stated that should GAO request access to certain discrimination complaint case files, USDA may provide access but will “sanitize” those files beforehand.
Third, we understand that USDA told its employees not to cooperate with GAO and actually forced GAO investigators to depart from USDA premises when GAO was seeking to interview USDA employees as part of its review of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.
Congress clearly vested GAO with the authority to access records of government agencies. Each federal agency is required to give "the Comptroller General information the Comptroller General requires about the duties, powers, activities, organization, and financial transactions of the agency. The Comptroller General may inspect an agency record to get the information. . . ." 31 U.S.C. § 716 [1921].
The actions of the Department of Agriculture are unjustified. Given USDA’s documented history of civil rights abuses, one of which led to a consent decree that, to date, has paid out nearly one billion dollars in settlements to black farmers, USDA’s unwillingness to provide documentation to GAO raises very serious questions whether the Department is serious about stopping civil rights abuses. In addition, because GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, your Department’s denial of access of GAO to records and employees also denies Congress its role in providing effective and appropriate oversight.
Accordingly, without further delay, we expect USDA to provide to GAO at its request any such records, employee access, or other matters requested by GAO for it to provide to Congress a full and accurate account of the civil rights performance of the Department of Agriculture. If USDA persists in denying GAO’s requests, we expect, no later than close of business March 10, 2008, a written response to the following questions.
Sincerely,
Tom Harkin Richard G. Lugar
United States Senate United States Senate
Edolphus Towns Charles E. Grassley
Member of Congress United States Senate
###