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Senator urges small bipartisan team to craft farm bill, praises 'superstar' secretary
Summary
A senator praised Secretary Brooke, warned that piecemeal fixes won’t solve long-standing agricultural challenges, and urged appointing a small, trusted bipartisan group to produce a sellable farm-bill package; Brooke thanked him and welcomed the support.
A senator urged Secretary Brooke to assemble a small bipartisan team to craft a workable farm bill, saying the nation’s agricultural problems are ‘‘enormous’’ and cannot be resolved by piecemeal efforts.
The senator, speaking directly to ‘‘Brooke’’ and addressing her as ‘‘Madam Secretary’’ in the remarks, praised her and President Trump’s efforts and recommended picking ‘‘a couple people’’ with credibility on both sides of the House and Senate to develop a concise list of priorities that could be carried into a farm bill. ‘‘Don’t make the members that we’re talking to a committee,’’ he said, criticizing large groups that he said often fail to act.
Why it matters: The senator framed the challenge as longstanding and multidimensional—pointing to fertilizer, specialty crops, forestry and ranching needs—and said incremental fixes are like ‘‘sticking your finger in the dike’’ while many problems remain. He urged senior negotiators who have the trust of members to sell a comprehensive plan in both chambers.
In the remarks he stressed selectivity and seniority: pick people ‘‘that had the confidence of the people that were around them in the house…and the ear and the confidence of the people in the Senate,’’ and ‘‘challenge him to come up with a list of every single thing that they absolutely needed to be able to get into a farm bill.’’ He cautioned against enlarging the group into a committee, saying committees are ‘‘a collection of individuals that have never accomplished anything by themselves.’’
The senator also acknowledged the scale of the work and voiced skepticism about immediate success—‘‘I’m really pessimistic that we’re going to get there’’—but offered his personal help: ‘‘I’ll do anything in the world I can to help.’’
Brooke responded briefly, thanking the senator and saying she ‘‘look[s] forward to doing just that’’ and thanked him for his friendship.
The exchange focused on strategy rather than specific legislative language or timetables; no motions, votes or formal actions were recorded in the remarks.
