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A Farewell Message from a (now former) USDA Employee [1]

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Date: 2025-04-17

I’m proud of my three nephews for many reasons. My nephew Matt is an industrious and caring young man who is today working his last day for the USDA, Rural Development, Rural Housing Service Division. His Supervisor, who used to be his Boy Scout leader and is a family friend, has worked there for 30 years, and is retiring from Federal employment sooner than he had planned to. All of his co-workers will lose their jobs today as well.

Matt is intelligent and resourceful, and I know he will have a soft landing, but that’s not the point of the diary. He is someone I want working for my government and for the people of rural Wisconsin. He has his priorities straight, and really cares about what he’s been doing for the past few years. I’m not sure he’d ever take a chance on federal employment again, and that’s a damned tragedy, in my book. Here is his farewell message from Facebook:

Today is a bittersweet day as I will be spending my last day in federal service. Over my three years at USDA Rural Development I learned many things about rural America. I have helped your neighbors, friends and even grandparents attain safe affordable housing and also helped with essential repairs to keep individuals and families in their home for many years. I have seen how communities can thrive off a new town hall, library or plow truck. I’ve talked to customers that can’t thank USDA RD enough for the solar energy their business is conducting and the money they are saving. It is the small wins that we could see in our daily life that made me love my job and made rural America prosper. However now with more uncertainty than information, I have been pushed out of my job and leaving a place I was calling my career. Me and many of my coworkers were hoping this would be the place we all called work and could retire at. We hoped that we could help rural families till the end of our time. Thank you to all my coworkers that became friends. You have helped me grow from the past kid coming into single family housing with no lending experience to the future person that believes in his skills and can do anything. I will never forget the team we had. I hope the best for you and all federal employees.

Support of the rural economy and the people who make it work is a key to Wisconsin’s population health and strength. Yet several of their offices in WI are being closed, meaning farmers, who can hardly afford to take days off to travel to remote offices, will not have local access to services and staff. Once again, ordinary American citizens are on the losing end of the billionaires’ plans for our future, and it is making our outlook very bleak.

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