USDA announces plans to decentralize, close several DC buildings

The Department of Agriculture on Thursday announced plans to shutter multiple buildings in Washington as part of an agency reorganization.

The agency will relocate its workforce out of the capital region and instead focus on five "hub locations," which include Raleigh, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Indianapolis; Fort Collins, Colo.; and Salt Lake City.

"In selecting its hub locations, USDA considered where existing concentrations of USDA employees are located and factored in the cost of living," the department said in a press release. "Washington, D.C. will still hold functions for every mission area of USDA at the conclusion of this reorganization, but USDA expects no more than 2,000 employees will remain in the NCR."

The agency said its services would continue uninterrupted during the transition.

The department also said it would vacate three buildings, turning them over to the General Services Administration to determine what to do with them next. The agency is also reviewing its use of three other buildings in the capital, including the National Agricultural Library.

The USDA framed it as a cost-saving measure, citing more than $1 billion of deferred maintenance in one of the buildings

Moving government headquarters out of Washington has been a major focus of cost-cutting efforts in the Trump administration, led by the Department of Government Efficiency. The administration in March posted and then deleted a lost of hundreds of government properties it could potentially get off the books.