The USDA Communication Regarding Oversight of Pesticides (“CROP”) Act of 2023 would empower the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Pest Management Policy to delay for up to two years the enactment of urgently needed measures to limit harm from dangerous pesticides.

Fifty environmental groups sent a letter on Nov. 14 to the House and Senate agriculture committees opposing S. 2472, which would give the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) unprecedented power to delay any federal safeguards to protect people and wildlife from harmful pesticides.

The Republican-sponsored USDA Communication Regarding Oversight of Pesticides (“CROP”) Act of 2023 would empower the department’s Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP) to delay for up to two years enactment of urgently needed measures by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit harm from dangerous pesticides.

The legislation would also allow the delay of commonsense conservation measures required under the Endangered Species Act to prevent extinction and to recover endangered wildlife.