A report from the US Department of Agriculture's Office of the Inspector General says the department's plan to relocate two USDA science agencies may violate the 2018 appropriations act, according to the Washington Post.
About a year ago, Secretary Sunny Perdue announced that USDA's Economic Research Service was to become part of the Office of the Chief Economist and that the ERS and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture would be moved outside DC. The department later decided that the agencies would relocate to the Kansas City area, though many workers have been reluctant to agree to the move.
The OIG report says that though the department informed Congress of its plan, it did not receive prior approval from Congress before it hired a private contractor as part of its search for a new location, a possible violation of an appropriations bill and possibly of the Antideficiency Act.
The Post adds that Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, applauded the loss of federal workers associated with the move as "draining the swamp." The Trump Administration is planning further moves, it notes, including of about 80 percent of Bureau of Land Management headquarters staff to an area west of the Rockies.