$374,000: USDA Created a Dedicated DEI Onboarding Specialist Position Whose Job Was Embedding Equity Frameworks in New Employee Training.

§ 01 / The Program

The USDA hired a dedicated DEI Onboarding Specialist — a full-time position at approximately $374,000 in total compensation over its duration — tasked with integrating equity, diversity, and inclusion frameworks into the new employee onboarding experience at USDA. The role was created under Biden’s Executive Order 13985 (“Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”) and the USDA’s subsequent Equity Action Plan, which directed agencies to embed equity considerations into every administrative process including new hire integration.

Among the most straightforwardly defensible DOGE cuts: the position was created solely to implement a policy priority (DEI onboarding integration) that the Trump administration’s EO 14173 explicitly reversed. DOGE didn’t need to do deep analysis — the position’s title and job description described exactly what EO 14173 terminated. The $374,000 figure includes salary, benefits, overhead, and associated training program costs over the Biden term.

What This Means

$374,000 for a USDA position dedicated to embedding DEI frameworks in new employee onboarding — created by Biden executive order, terminated by Trump executive order. This is DOGE at its most defensible: a position with a specific ideological mandate whose entire job description was reversed by EO 14173. The individual who held the position may have done their job competently; the job itself was the problem.

Sources · 10 Citations