Senate Agriculture Committee questions nominee Brooke Rollins on farm bill, trade, animal disease and nutrition

Chairman Bozeman convened the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry hearing that introduced Brooke Lehi Rollins as the nominee for secretary of agriculture and allowed senators to question her on the department's immediate and longer-term priorities.

Rollins told the committee that if confirmed she would prioritize distributing disaster and economic assistance quickly, responding to animal disease outbreaks, modernizing USDA operations, and supporting rural communities. "If confirmed, I will do everything in my ability to make sure our farmers, ranchers and rural communities thrive," Rollins said in her opening remarks.

The hearing focused on several recurring themes: the need for an updated farm bill and quick delivery of supplemental aid; how trade and tariff policy would affect farm exports; responses to ongoing animal disease outbreaks including highly pathogenic avian influenza; the future of biofuels and renewable-fuel policy; SNAP and other nutrition programs; workforce and telework expectations at USDA; and forest and wildfire management.

Why it matters

The secretary of agriculture oversees a broad portfolio that includes commodity programs, the nation’s nutrition safety net, and agencies that manage plant and animal health and research. Committee members emphasized that the next USDA leader will influence farm income, trade access for exporters, nutrition program rules affecting millions of Americans, and responses to animal-disease and wildfire emergencies.

What Rollins said she would do

Rollins, who described her background in state policy, think-tank leadership and as a senior White House domestic policy official, told senators her immediate tasks would be to ensure disaster and economic-assistance authorized by Congress reached producers quickly; to…