Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins declared her affinity for Department of Agriculture employees and their work in her first public address in the job Friday, a day after the Trump administration’s paring of the workforce left several thousand USDA workers jobless.
“You are my people, and I am yours,” Rollins said at a swearing-in event at USDA headquarters, which was livestreamed, reflecting what she called all USDA employees’ shared mission to the country.
The conflicting images — the new secretary with a farming background seeking to rally the department around rural interests and public service, and the unease around governmentwide layoffs — illustrated the challenge Rollins faces as she begins to lead the nearly 100,000-employee agency.
The USDA didn’t immediately respond to a request Friday for an agencywide figure for the layoffs, which largely affected employees on the job for less than a year and were immediate.
