SCHUMER TO BRING CENTRAL NY USDA WORKER – FIRED BY DOGE AFTER YEARS OF SERVICE – WHO HELPED FARMERS & RURAL BUSINESSES ACROSS UPSTATE NY AS HIS PERSONAL GUEST TO PRESIDENT TRUMP’S JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

Tiffany Ramos, A Rome, NY Native & SUNY Morrisville Graduate, Worked At The USDA Since 2021, Helping Farms, Businesses & Residents Of Rural Communities Across Upstate, Until She Was Unfairly Fired As “Probationary” Amid Blind Rash Of DOGE Cuts

Senator Says Callously Firing Dutiful Public Servants Like Tiffany And Slashing USDA Programs That Farmers & Rural Areas Depend On Does Nothing To Stop Government Waste, And Shows Why Efficiency Demands A Scalpel, Not A Chainsaw

Schumer: We Should Not Be Firing The Upstate NY-er’s Who Help Our Farmers & Rural Businesses Grow

Amid mass firings and funding freezes at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) because of DOGE, hurting farms, businesses, and residents of rural communities in Upstate NY and across all corners of NY, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer today announced he will bring former Syracuse USDA employee, Tiffany Ramos, as his personal guest to attend President Trump’s Joint Session of Congress. Tiffany was fired earlier this month from the USDA’s Rural Development (RD) office where she worked helping farmers, businesses, and rural communities across Upstate NY get the financial assistance they needed, despite her years of service and critical work helping rural New Yorkers.

“Our farms and rural businesses are the lifeblood of Upstate NY, and the backbone of America. For nearly half a decade, Tiffany Ramos brought passion and commitment to her work at the USDA’s offices in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley, helping rural communities across Upstate New York.  Support for our farmers, support for rural businesses, and jobs like Tiffany’s that help rural areas thrive are not government waste,” said U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer. “Tiffany embodies the devotion and determination that makes America’s public servants the best in the world. I am all for cutting out inefficiency, but you use a scalpel, not a chainsaw. You don’t rip resources away from our farmers and rural businesses that are already struggling. I am proud to bring Central New York’s own Tiffany Ramos as my guest to President Trump’s Joint Session of Congress and will be fighting to reverse cuts like these that hurt Upstate NY’s farms and rural businesses.”

“My colleagues and I at the USDA proudly serve the farmers and businesses in our rural communities, living alongside them, understanding their needs, and fighting for their interests. The mass terminations at USDA is not just about me losing my job, it’s the dangerous message we’re sending to rural America. We’re telling farmers, small business owners, healthcare providers and residents of rural communities that they don’t matter enough for our federal government to support the staff needed to help them succeed,” said former USDA employee Tiffany Ramos. “The extraordinary members of the federal civil service I have had the pleasure of working with are not the enemy and are not sitting behind computers doing nothing, rather we are hard at work out in our communities every single day.”

Tiffany Ramos is a former Farm Service Agency (FSA) Program Technician and RD Business Program Technician based at the USDA’s offices in Oneida and Onondaga Counties. Originally from Rome, NY Tiffany graduated from SUNY Morrisville with an Associate’s Degree in Equine Science & Farm Management in 2009 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture Business Development in 2021.

Tiffany started her career at the USDA in 2021 as an FSA Programs Technician. Over her years of work at FSA, Tiffany served as Oneida County’s primary technical contact on Farm Storage Facility loans, Marketing Assistance loans, conservation programs, and more. In 2024, Tiffany voluntarily transferred to USDA RD’s office in Syracuse to fill a Business Program Technician position that had been open for years. During her time at RD, Tiffany took on a statewide portfolio overseeing various loan, loan guarantee, and grant programs to help provide financial support to farms and rural businesses. 

Tiffany was not on the initial list of probationary employees provided to the USDA after President Trump took office, but after her recent transfer Tiffany specifically reached out to OPM to double check her status. On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, OPM informed Tiffany that her years of service at FSA would be counted towards her retirement and leave. Nonetheless, Tiffany was blindsided by an email the very next day with news of her immediate termination. Since then, Tiffany has not received any update on the termination procedure or next steps, leaving her unclear on the status of healthcare insurance and making it difficult to file for unemployment benefits.

Tiffany’s termination letter claimed that her continued employment was not “in the public interest” despite all of Tiffany’s performance evaluations rating her as “Fully Successful” and zero documentation of poor performance or unsatisfactory work. Schumer said this is a prime example of blind and misguided ‘DOGE’ layoffs hurting American farmers, businesses and residents in our rural communities while creating chaos in every corner of New York State and all across the country.

President Trump has fired federal workers across Upstate New York, including at the USDA’s Syracuse office where workers like Tiffany help farmers and rural businesses. In January, President Trump froze all federal payments including at the USDA, creating ongoing chaos for farmers and rural communities in Upstate New York. Farmers across the country are still reporting missing payments that they depend on to continue operations. Schumer explained that laying off workers like Tiffany is only hurting farmers, businesses, and rural communities more by cutting off resources they need and limiting staff who can help them.

President Trump’s layoffs have hurt programs across the USDA, which in tandem with chaos from executive orders, the funding freeze, and slashing of other critical programs like USAID that support farmers, are causing serious financial hardship and worry for agriculture across America. Experts say these massive layoffs at the USDA, which range from those who help rural businesses to top agricultural scientists, could have severe and long lasting impacts for farms and America’s food supply chain. Schumer said DOGE’s approach of fire first and ask questions later cannot continue. As one significant example, last month, DOGE carelessly fired approximately 25% of the employees working on combatting bird flu at the USDA, and now struggling to rehire them, and undermining a response to reduce the crushing prices of eggs Americans are facing.

Farmers in Upstate NY have reported missing or delayed payments from dozens of programs. One example are programs in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that Senator Schumer led to passage in the Senate, which boosted funding for the USDA RD’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which provides loans and grants to help farmers improve their infrastructure, expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. The USDA has made billions of dollars available through REAP, but due to Trump’s federal funding fiasco ‘DOGE’ is reviewing millions in REAP payments, and farmers are missing REAP payments they rely on.  Schumer said we cannot continue cutting off resources for farms and rural America and is fighting to reverse these harmful cuts at the USDA.

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