The National Chicken Council and 36 other agricultural organizations this week jointly submitted a request to the White House that Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) officials not be furloughed as a result of the federal budget sequestration. Furloughs will be quite disruptive, the coalition said, and it “seriously questions the wisdom of shutting the doors of an agency on days when the rest of the world is engaged in trade negotiations, activities at the World Trade Organization and elsewhere, or potentially adopting measures that are adverse to our trade interests.”
However, if furloughs are deemed necessary a “better approach would be to stagger the furlough days among staff members, as other agencies are in fact doing, so that critical U.S. trade interests may be adequately safeguarded,” the group argued. The National Pork Producers Council headed the effort for the jointly-submitted request. The letter is available here.
