Members of the House Agriculture subcommittee heard testimony that recent reductions in USDA Rural Development staffing have impaired the agency's ability to process applications and support projects.

"Many state and field offices are currently operating at half capacity," said Deputy Secretary George Small. He added that in some places "it's worse, like Mississippi where 90% of rural development staff were cut last year," and that nationally there are "only 16 engineers remain in this RD state system." Witnesses said projects are sitting on desks awaiting approval and phone calls were going unanswered for months.

Local and regional witnesses described the consequences. Lynn Keller Forbes, who runs a regional development organization in South Dakota, said reduced USDA staff increase the administrative burden on small local organizations that already provide quarterly reports and audits for revolving loan funds. "With reduced USDA staff, it's a burden on my staff to put those together. It's a burden on USDA staff to review those," she said.

County leaders said the lack of accessible field staff undermines long‑standing local partnerships. A Potter County commissioner testifying for the National Association of Counties told members that RD field staff are "trusted partners" who know communities and help assemble partners and paperwork for projects that otherwise would not be feasible.

Several witnesses urged Congress to preserve RD's field footprint during reorganizations and to fund hiring and retention incentives. They argued that rebuilding capacity is a precondition to simplifying applications and speeding approvals. The subcommittee agreed to collect written follow‑up materials and to keep the record open for additional testimony.