ANNAPOLIS, MD—Maryland Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reverse a proposed reorganization plan that would relocate thousands of federal jobs, warning the move could cost the state nearly $200 million annually in direct federal spending.
In a formal public comment to the USDA, Lierman expressed concern over the planned relocation of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) headquarters from Prince George’s County, which she said would dismantle a highly effective workforce and disrupt lives.
“As the State of Maryland’s elected CFO, I am committed to quantifying and communicating the direct economic impact of recent actions taken by the federal government,” Lierman wrote. “Over the years, people have moved to Maryland and settled here to work at these important divisions of USDA and the highly specialized jobs; building a talent pipeline anywhere else to fill these important jobs would take at least a generation.”
According to data from the Office of Personnel Management, 872 ARS jobs were based in Maryland during fiscal year 2023, generating more than $103 million in wages. Of those jobs, 701 were held by Maryland residents, the majority of whom live in Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard, and Anne Arundel counties.
The comptroller’s letter also highlighted the potential loss of $86 million in annual federal contracts and $4.3 million in research grants to Maryland universities if the relocation plan is finalized.
The comptroller’s office noted that the state has lost an estimated 15,000 federal government jobs this year, and her office is partnering with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business on a report to detail the economic impact of these federal actions on the state.
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