# What This Bill Does

This bill would cap the budget for the USDA's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at $901,000 for the year 2024. To put that in perspective, that's a very small amount of money in the context of the entire federal government—roughly equivalent to the annual salary of about 15 mid-level federal employees.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights is the part of the Department of Agriculture responsible for handling discrimination complaints and civil rights issues within the department. This includes investigating claims of racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and other civil rights violations by USDA employees or in USDA programs. The office also works on compliance with federal civil rights laws and handles complaints from farmers and agricultural workers who believe they've been treated unfairly.

By limiting funding to this specific amount, the bill would significantly restrict what this office can do. With such a tight budget, the office would have fewer staff members, less ability to investigate complaints thoroughly, and reduced capacity to conduct civil rights training or outreach. This could mean longer wait times for people filing discrimination complaints, fewer investigations into alleged violations, and less proactive work to prevent discrimination in agricultural programs. Farmers, agricultural workers, and USDA employees who believe they've experienced discrimination would likely face delays in getting their concerns addressed, and some complaints might go uninvestigated due to resource constraints.

To provide for a limitation on availability of funds for US Department of Agriculture, Executive Operations, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights for fiscal year 2024.

Biggs, Andy

 <p>This bill limits FY2024 funding for the Department of Agriculture's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.</p>