Washington, D.C.
Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and referred to as Washington or D. C. is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of the United States and Founding Father; as the seat of the United States federal government and several international organizations, Washington is an important world political capital. The city is one of the most visited cities in the world, with more than 20 million tourists annually; the signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The U. S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U. S. Congress, the District is therefore not a part of any state; the states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria.
The City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia. Washington had an estimated population of 702,455 as of July 2018, making it the 20th most populous city in the United States. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek. Washington's metropolitan area, the country's sixth largest, had a 2017 estimated population of 6.2 million residents. All three branches of the U. S. federal government are centered in the District: Congress and the U. S. Supreme Court. Washington is home to many national monuments, museums situated on or around the National Mall; the city hosts 177 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organizations, trade unions, non-profit, lobbying groups, professional associations, including the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, AARP, the National Geographic Society, the Human Rights Campaign, the International Finance Corporation, the American Red Cross.
A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973. However, Congress may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, but the District has no representation in the Senate. The District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century. One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. In his Federalist No. 43, published January 23, 1788, James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety.
Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia. Known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. Article One, Section Eight, of the Constitution permits the establishment of a "District as may, by cession of particular states, the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States". However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital. In what is now known as the Compromise of 1790, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson came to an agreement that the federal government would pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the southern United States. On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River; the exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, who signed the bill into law on July 16.
Formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory: the port of Georgetown, founded in 1751, the city of Alexandria, founded in 1749. During 1791–92, Andrew Ellicott and several assistants, including a free African American astronomer named Benjamin Banneker, surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point. Many of the stones are still standing. A new federal city was constructed on the north bank of the Potomac, to the east of Georgetown. On September 9, 1791, the three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington; the federal district was named Columbia, a poetic name for the United States in use at that time. Congress held its first session in Washington on November 17, 1800. Congress passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 that organized the District and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal
United States National Agricultural Library
The United States National Agricultural Library is one of the world's largest agricultural research libraries, serves as a national library of the United States and as the library of the United States Department of Agriculture. Located in Beltsville, Maryland, it is one of five national libraries of the United States, it is the coordinator for the Agriculture Network Information Center, a national network of state land-grant institutions and coordinator for the U. S. Department of Agriculture field libraries. NAL was established on May 1862, by the signing of the Organic Act by Abraham Lincoln, it served as a departmental library until 1962, when the Secretary of Agriculture designated it as the National Agricultural Library. The first librarian, appointed in 1867, was Aaron B. Grosh, one of the founders of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. NAL was established as the U. S. Department of Agriculture Library on May 15, 1862, by the signing of the Organic Act by Abraham Lincoln.
In 1863, the library's collection comprised 1,000 volumes, transferred from the U. S. Patent Office's Agricultural Division. By 1889, the library's collection had increased to 20,000 volumes, a librarian from Amherst College was hired to create a classification system for the library's collection. At this time, the library was located on the second floor of the Department of Agriculture's main building. In 1893, William Cutter was hired as Librarian of the Department, he began a reorganization effort to modernize the library and improve its effectiveness, his primary achievement was consolidating the library's collection of 38,000 volumes into one central library. By 1900, the library's collection contained 68,000 volumes, in 1915, the library was moved to a larger facility in the Bieber Office Building at 1358 B Street SW, Washington, DC; the library moved again in 1932 to facilities in the USDA's South Building on Independence Avenue. In 1934, the collection reached 250,000 volumes in size, the library began participating in the Bibliofilm Service, along with the American Documentation Institute and the Science Service, supplied microfilm copies of articles to scientists.
This was the first large-scale attempt by a library to provide copies of library materials to patrons rather than the original documents, during its first year, over 300,000 copies were distributed. During World War II, the Department of Agriculture underwent reorganization to address wartime needs; the library, decentralized since 1920, was consolidated into a central facility under the direction of Department Librarian Ralph R. Shaw. On May 23, 1962, the 100th anniversary of the library's establishment, Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman designated the library as the National Agricultural Library, making it the third national library in the United States. In 1964, funds were appropriated by Congress to begin planning for a new library facility in Beltsville, Maryland, on the grounds of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. Construction on the new facility began in 1965, it first opened in 1969. In 2000, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman designated the building as the Abraham Lincoln Building.
Aaron B. Grosh Stuart Eldridge John B. Russell Ernestine H. Stevens William P. Cutter Josephine Clark Claribel Barnett Ralph R. Shaw Foster E. Mohrhardt John Sherrod Richard Farley Joseph Howard Pamela Q. J. Andre Peter Young Simon Y. Liu Paul M. Wester Jr; the main library is housed in the Abraham Lincoln Building, a seventeen-story facility on the grounds of the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland. NAL operates a Washington, D. C. branch known as the DC Reference Center, located in the USDA's South Building. PubAg is search engine that gives the public enhanced access to research published by U. S. Department of Agriculture scientists, to agriculturally relevant citations from the scientific literature. At its launch on January 13, 2015, PubAg made over 40,000 publications by USDA scientists available, provided access to an additional 300,000 citations. Ag Data Commons is a repository and catalog for scientific datasets that are associated with publications by the USDA's agricultural research service and other institutions.
The repository is in beta release. Hosted by the National Agricultural Library, the U. S. Life Cycle Assessment Commons is a collaboration among federal agencies, private industry, academic researchers; the intention of LCA Commons is to aggregate and archive life cycle inventory data that represent US economic activities, making it available for re-use. The i5k Workspace@NAL provides genome projects resulting from the i5k initiative with a space to display and share genome assemblies and gene models. In particular, the Workspace is geared towards research groups that do not have the resources to display the genome assembly and its features. NAL maintains the largest bibliographic database of agricultural literature in the world, it contains more than 4.1 million records for publications dating as far back as the 15th century. 78 percent of the records are for journal articles and book chapters, while 22 percent cover full-length books, maps, electronic resources, audiovisual material
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs
The Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs is a high-ranking position within the United States Department of Agriculture that supervises policy development and day-to-day operations of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service, the Grain Inspection and Stockyards Administration. The three agencies were appropriated over $800 million by Congress in fiscal year 2004; the Agricultural Marketing Service administers programs that attempt to facilitate the fair marketing of U. S. agricultural products. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service attempts to safeguard America's resources from exotic invasive pests and diseases and monitor and manage agricultural pests and diseases existing in the United States, it resolves and manages trade issues related to animal or plant health, ensures the humane care and treatment of animals. The Grain Inspection and Stockyards Administration attempts to facilitate the marketing of livestock, meat, cereals and related agricultural products, promote fair and competitive trading practices.
The current Under Secretary is Gregory Ibach, confirmed by the U. S. Senate on October 26, 2017. Previous incumbent Bruce I. Knight was confirmed by the U. S. Senate on August 6, 2006. Former Under Secretaries include Bill Hawks, who served from April 2001 until June 2005, Islam "Isa" A. Siddiqui, whose recess appointment was announced by President Bill Clinton on December 29, 2000, Michael V. Dunn, who served from November 1998 until April 2000; the position was created by the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1999, signed on October 21, 1998 by President Clinton. Prior to this act, there had been an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, abolished; the Under Secretary is appointed by the President with the confirmation of the Senate
Endangered Species Act of 1973
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 serves as the enacting legislation to carry out the provisions outlined in The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation", the ESA was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973; the law requires federal agencies to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service &/or the NOAA Fisheries Service to ensure their actions are not to jeopardize the continued existence of any listed species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of designated critical habitat of such species. The U. S. Supreme Court found that "the plain intent of Congress in enacting" the ESA "was to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost." The Act is administered by two federal agencies, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Listing status and its abbreviations used in Federal Register and by federal agencies like the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: E = endangered – any species, in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range other than a species of the Class Insecta determined by the Secretary to constitute a pest. T = threatened – any species, to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its rangeOther categories:C = candidate – a species under consideration for official listing E, T = endangered or threatened due to similarity of appearance – a species not endangered or threatened, but so resembles in appearance a species, listed as endangered or threatened, that enforcement personnel would have substantial difficulty in attempting to differentiate between the listed and unlisted species. XE, XN = experimental essential or non-essential population – any population of an endangered species or a threatened species released outside the current range under authorization of the Secretary.
Experimental, nonessential populations of endangered species are treated as threatened species on public land, for consultation purposes, as species proposed for listing on private land. The near-extinction of the bison and the disappearance of the passenger pigeon helped drive the call for wildlife conservation starting in the 1900s. Ornithologist George Bird Grinnell wrote articles on the subject in the magazine Forest and Stream, while Joel Asaph Allen, founder of the American Ornithologists' Union, hammered away in the popular press; the public was introduced to a new concept: extinction. Market hunting for the millinery trade and for the table was one aspect of the problem; the early naturalists killed birds and other wildlife for study, personal curio collections and museum pieces. While habitat losses continued as communities and farmland grew, the widespread use of pesticides and the introduction of non-native species affected wildlife. One species in particular received widespread attention—the whooping crane.
The species' historical range extended from central Canada south to Mexico, from Utah to the Atlantic coast. Unregulated hunting and habitat loss contributed to a steady decline in the whooping crane population until, by 1890, it had disappeared from its primary breeding range in the north central United States, it would be another eight years before the first national law regulating wildlife commerce was signed, another two years before the first version of the endangered species act was passed. The whooping crane population by 1941 was estimated at about only 16 birds still in the wild; the Lacey Act of 1900 was the first federal law. It prohibited interstate commerce of animals killed in violation of state game laws, covered all fish and wildlife and their parts or products, as well as plants. Other legislation followed, including the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929, a 1937 treaty prohibiting the hunting of right and gray whales, the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940; these laws had a low cost to society–the species were rare–and little opposition was raised.
Whereas the Lacey Act dealt with game animal management and market commerce species, a major shift in focus occurred by 1963 to habitat preservation instead of take regulations. A provision was added by Congress in the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 that provided money for the "acquisition of land, waters...for the preservation of species of fish and wildlife that are threatened with extinction." The predecessor of the ESA was the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. Passed by Congress, this act permitted the listing of native U. S. animal species as endangered and for limited protections upon those animals. It authorized the Secretary of the Interior to list endangered domestic fish and wildlife and allowed the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to spend up to $15 million per year to buy habitats for listed species, it directed federal land agencies to preserve habitat on their lands. The Act consolidated and expanded authority for the Secretary of the Interior to manage and administer the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Other public agencies were encouraged, but not required. The act did not address the commerce in endangered parts. In March, 1967 the first list of endangered species was issued under the act, it included 36 birds, 6 reptiles and amphibians and 22 fish. This first list is referred to as the "
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is an agency of the US Federal Government within the US Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with others to conserve and enhance fish, wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people." Aurelia Skipwith is Trump's nominee. Among the responsibilities of the FWS are enforcing federal wildlife laws. Sub-units of the FWS include: National Wildlife Refuge System—560 National Wildlife Refuges and thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas covering over 150 million acres Division of Migratory Bird Management Federal Duck Stamp National Fish Hatchery System—70 National Fish Hatcheries and 65 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Offices Endangered Species program—86 Ecological Services Field Stations International Affairs Program National Conservation Training Center USFWS Office of Law Enforcement Clark R. Bavin National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory Landscape Conservation CooperativesThe vast majority of fish and wildlife habitat is on non-federal state or private land.
Therefore, the FWS works with private groups such as Partners in Flight and Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council to promote voluntary habitat conservation and restoration. The FWS employs 9,000 people and is organized into a central administrative office in Falls Church, eight regional offices, nearly 700 field offices distributed throughout the United States; the FWS originated in 1871 as the United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries, more referred to as the United States Fish Commission, created by the United States Congress with the purpose of studying and recommending solutions to a noted decline in the stocks of food fish. Spencer Fullerton Baird was appointed its first commissioner. In 1903, the Fish Commission was reorganized as the United States Bureau of Fisheries. In 1885–1886, the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy was established within the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1896 it became the Division of Biological Survey, its early work focused on the effect of birds in controlling agricultural pests and mapping the geographical distribution of plants and animals in the United States.
Clinton Hart Merriam headed the Bureau for 25 years and became a national figure for improving the scientific understanding of birds and mammals in the United States. Jay Norwood Darling was appointed Chief of the new Bureau of Biological Survey in 1934. Under Darling's guidance, the Bureau began an ongoing legacy of protecting vital natural habitat throughout the country; the FWS was created in 1940, when the Bureaus of Fisheries and Biological Survey were combined after being moved to the Department of the Interior. In 1959, the methods used by FWS's Animal Damage Control Program were featured in the Tom Lehrer song "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"; the FWS governs six US National Monuments: Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington state. Pursuant to the eagle feather law, Title 50, Part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the US Fish and Wildlife Service administers the National Eagle Repository and the permit system for Native American religious use of eagle feathers.
These exceptions only apply to Native Americans that are registered with the federal government and are enrolled with a federally recognized tribe. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the FWS began to incorporate the research of tribal scientists into conservation decisions; this came on the heels of Native American traditional ecological knowledge gaining acceptance in the scientific community as a reasonable and respectable way to gain knowledge of managing the natural world. Additionally, other natural resource agencies within the United States government, such as the USDA, have taken steps to be more inclusive of tribes, native people, tribal rights; this has marked a transition to a relationship of more co-operation rather than the tension between tribes and government agencies seen historically. Today, these agencies work with tribal governments to ensure the best conservation decisions are made and that tribes retain their sovereignty. Federal law enforcement in the United States Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admini
Sonny Perdue
George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III is an American veterinarian and politician serving as the 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture since 2017. He served as the 81st Governor of Georgia from 2003 to 2011, he was the first Republican Governor of Georgia since Reconstruction. Founder and partner in an agricultural trading company, Perdue served from 2012 to 2017 on the Governors' Council of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D. C, he is the second Secretary of Agriculture from the Deep South. On January 18, 2017, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Perdue to be Secretary of Agriculture, his nomination was transmitted to the U. S. Senate on March 9, 2017, his nomination was approved by the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry on March 30 by a 19–1 voice vote, by the entire Senate in a vote of 87–11 on April 24. Perdue was born in Perry, the son of Ophie Viola, a teacher, George Ervin Perdue Jr. a farmer. He still lives in Bonaire, an unincorporated area between Perry and Warner Robins.
Born George Ervin Perdue III, Perdue has been known as Sonny since childhood, prefers to be called by that name. Perdue is the first cousin of U. S. Senator David Perdue. Perdue played quarterback at Warner Robins High School and was a walk-on at the University of Georgia, where he was a member of the Beta-Lambda chapter of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. In 1971, Perdue earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, worked as a veterinarian before becoming a small business owner starting three small businesses. Perdue is not related to the family that operates Perdue Farms. Perdue served in the U. S. Air Force, rising to the rank of captain before his discharge. After serving as a member of the Houston County Planning & Zoning Commission in the 1980s, Perdue ran as a Democrat for a seat in the Georgia General Assembly, he defeated Republican candidate Ned Sanders in 1990 and succeeded Democratic incumbent Ed Barker as the senator representing the 18th district.
Perdue was elected as a Democrat in 1991, 1994, 1996. He served as his party's leader in the Senate from 1994 as president pro tempore. After his first year in office Senator Perdue wrote Lt. Governor Pierre Howard asking for more responsibilities, Howard obliged, he shortly after became a committee chairman climbed the leadership ladder to majority leader Senate Pro-Tempore. Many credit Pierre Howard for helping Perdue build the early foundation of what would become his future political career, his committee assignments included Ethics, Finance & Public Utilities, Health & Human Services and Economic Development, Tourism & Cultural Affairs. He switched party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 1998 and was reelected to the Senate as a Republican, he won reelection in 2000. 2002In December 2001, Perdue resigned as state senator and devoted himself to running for the office of Governor of Georgia. He won the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial election, defeating Democratic incumbent Roy Barnes 51% to 46%, with Libertarian candidate Garrett Michael Hayes taking 2% of the vote.
He became the first Republican governor of Georgia in over 130 years since Benjamin F. Conley. 2006In 2006, Perdue was re-elected to a second term in the 2006 Georgia gubernatorial election, winning nearly 58% of the vote. His Democratic opponent was Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor. Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes was on the ballot. Economic issuesPerdue advocated reforms designed to cut waste in government, most notably the sale of surplus vehicles and real estate. Prior to Perdue's becoming governor, no state agency had compiled an inventory of what assets the state owned. In January 2003, Perdue signed an executive order prohibiting himself and all other state employees from receiving any gift worth more than $25. During his governorship, Perdue collected at least $25,000 in gifts, including sporting event tickets and airplane flights. Late in the evening of March 29, 2005, the penultimate day of the legislative session, Representative Larry O'Neal, who worked part-time as Perdue’s personal lawyer, introduced legislation making capital gains tax owed on Georgia land sales deferrable if the income goes to purchase out-of-state land unusually, making the tax break retroactive.
Perdue signed the legislation into law on April 2005, three days before tax day. Perdue used the new law on his 2004 tax return to defer $100,000 in taxable gains from the sale of land. In 2007, Perdue convinced a skeptical legislature to approve a $19 million fishing tourism program he called Go Fish Georgia. Perdue decided that the Go Fish Education Center would be built down the road from his home. Education reformIn education, Perdue promoted the return of most decision-making to the local level. After Perdue took office, in 2003 and 2004, Georgia moved up from last place in the country in SAT scores. Although it returned to last place in 2005, Georgia rose to 49th place in 2006 in the combined math and reading mean score, including the writing portion added to the test that year. In 2007, Georgia moved up to 46th place. In 2008, Georgia moved up again, to 45th place. Perdue created additional opportunities for charter schools and private schools. Georgia state flagAfter Democratic Governor Roy Barnes replaced the 1956 state flag, adopted by Georgia to protest integration, because it featured a battle flag emblem of the Confede
Agricultural Marketing Service
The Agricultural Marketing Service is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, has programs in five commodity areas: cotton and tobacco. These programs provide testing, standardization and market news services for those commodities, oversee marketing agreements and orders, administer research and promotion programs, purchase commodities for federal food programs; the AMS enforces certain federal laws such as the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act and the Federal Seed Act. The AMS budget is $1.2 billion. The current Administrator as of May 6, 2013 is Anne L. Alonzo; the AMS National Organic Program develops and administers national production and labeling standards for organic agricultural products. The NOP accredits the certifying agents who inspect organic production and handling operations to certify that they meet USDA standards; the AMS Science and Technology Program provides scientific support services to the agricultural community and AMS programs, including laboratory analyses, laboratory quality assurance, coordination of scientific research conducted by other agencies for AMS.
In addition, the program's Plant Variety Protection Office administers the Plant Variety Protection Act, by issuing Certificates of Protection for new varieties of plants which are sexually reproduced or tuber-propagated. The program conducts a program to collect and analyze data about pesticide residue levels in agricultural commodities, it administers the Pesticide Recordkeeping program, which requires all certified private applicators of federally restricted-use pesticide to maintain records of all applications. The records will be put into a data base to help analyze agricultural pesticide use; the AMS Transportation and Marketing Program supplies research and technical information regarding the nation's food transportation system to producers, producer groups, exporters, rural communities, government agencies and universities. The program administers a program involving financial grants to States for marketing improvements. In addition, the division assists in the planning and design of marketing facilities and methods in cooperation with state and local governments, farmer groups, other segments of the U.
S. food industry. This program is intended to enhance the overall effectiveness of the food marketing system, provide better quality products to the consumer at reasonable cost, improve market access for growers with farms of small to medium size, promote regional economic development; the AMS administers the commodity checkoff programs. Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations Agricultural Marketing Service Agricultural Marketing Service in the Federal Register
