(NAFB.com) – Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, led all committee Democrats in pressing the USDA to explain the recent mass layoffs at the Department. The Senators asked how many USDA employees were fired and for a breakdown by state, agency, job position, and veteran status, all details the administration has not provided to date. “These widespread layoffs jeopardize USDA’s ability to respond to the ongoing avian flu outbreak, process farm loans, disaster relief and other assistance for farmers, and distribute grants and loans for infrastructure and services that rural Americans rely on,” the Senators wrote in a letter to Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins. The Senators also said they have deep concerns that the termination of thousands of nonpartisan USDA employees and contracts in less than a month will hinder the Department’s ability to address the challenges facing American agriculture and rural America.