Brooke Rollins, President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Agriculture, is expected to get her confirmation vote on the Senate floor this week. Rollins was approved unanimously (23-0; the most votes in support of any nominee coming out of committee so far) by the Senate Agriculture Committee last week and is expected to cruise to full confirmation.
In her confirmation hearing, Rollins stated her top priorities as improving the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development programming, restructuring the Department, and expanding access to ag markets to reduce the trade deficit. She also expressed concerns about animal disease outbreaks; especially timely as bird flu cases seem to be become more prevalent.
USDA’s jurisdiction is strikingly broad: countless rural support programs, energy, broadband, telehealth, housing, forest management, wildfire, commodity regulation, trade, crops and livestock, and more. During Rollins’ hearing, a few areas of interest for policy change became evident:
Increasing Focus on Wildfire and Forest Management: Senator Bennet (D-CO) said the state of national forests in the west is untenable and stressed the importance of mitigation measures. Senator Schiff (D-CA) talked about how the Forest Service played a major role in response efforts to secure resources and personnel in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires and asked for a commitment from Rollins to extend the pay increase for wildland firefighters. Majority Leader Thune (R-SD) talked about declining timber processing capacity and closing sawmills; referring to the current state of affairs as “an emergency,” both for the industry and communities facing wildfire. When asked to speak on the importance of forests and her approach to stewardship, Rollins admitted that she doesn’t “pretend to know about it” and is “still learning.”
Broader Policy Impacts on Farmers: Senator Durbin (D-IL) pressed Rollins on the administration’s plans on immigration, particularly the deportation of undocumented farmworkers. Rollins continually reiterated that she supports the president’s vision for immigration, but is interested in reforming the H-2A program. Senator Slotkin (D-MI) spoke at length about the potential impacts of Trump’s planned tariffs on farmers, urging Rollins to use her position to advocate for America’s farmers and ideally avoid tariffs altogether.
Midwestern Interest in Biofuels Tax Credit: Senators Ernst (R-IA), Marshall (R-KS), Fischer (R-NE), and Moran (R-KS) all referenced biofuels (particularly corn and soybean-based fuels) and the need to expand the 45z tax credit, which encourages the production of clean transportation fuels.
Dem Defense of SNAP: Several senators on the minority side of the committee, including Ranking Member Klobuchar (D-MN), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA), touted the importance of funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and knocked proposals to expand work requirements for the program.
Support for Small Farms: Several members of the committee brought up the challenges facing smaller farms and producers. Senator Tuberville (R-AL) mentioned his recently reintroduced bill to prevent foreign entities from buying farmland in the U.S. Senator Justice (R-WV) voiced support for value-added products and alluded to a “plan that could bring furniture, cabinet, flooring manufacturing back to the U.S.” Senator Grassley (R-IA) criticized Wall Street investors reaping small profits and proposed establishing a cap on “what farmers can get so we aren’t subsidizing big farms.”
While new interests in the agriculture and rural development spaces will undoubtedly emerge in the coming months and years, it’s useful to monitor the priorities being highlighted in the early days of this new administration and Congress to anticipate legislative and regulatory trends. Many of them will find their way into the next Farm Bill (and likely other legislation in the meantime).
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