Agriculture Secretary-nominee Brooke Rollins will use her confirmation hearing Thursday to call for "immediately and comprehensively" containing ongoing animal disease outbreaks, and she will pledge to serve all of agriculture and all Americans, according to her opening statement.
The Agriculture Department “must be aggressive, effective and focused on its core mission of serving all American agriculture — and all the American people,” says the statement to the Senate Agriculture Committee. “It must, to borrow a phrase, put America First.”
A portion of the statement was provided to Agri-Pulse.
She cites the need to “reconstitute, rebuild, and revivify the United States Department of Agriculture, responding to the clear needs and desires of the American people as set forth so well by the President of the United States across this historic week.”
Other key priorities she lists in the statement include ensuring that $31 billion in disaster aid and economic assistance authorized by Congress in December is distributed to producers "as quickly and efficiently as possible."
Rollins says USDA must "do everything possible to eradicate" animal disease outbreaks, including highly pathogenic avian influenza and New World Screwworm. An outbreak of the latter in Mexico has shut down imports of Mexican cattle.
In an exit interview with former Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack last week, he told Agri-Pulse that identifying an effective, cost-effective vaccine that can be easily distributed and a system to distinguish between animals treated with the vaccine was his recommendation to his successor to navigate the bird flu outbreak.
Members of the committee have told Agri-Pulse they are planning to question Rollins, a native of Texas, on biofuel issues Thursday. Rollins formerly led the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which has criticized federal biofuel policy in the past. Bird flu eradication and nutrition assistance are other likely topics to be discussed in questioning from the panel.
Another top priority listed by Rollins in her opening statement includes working with Congress to pass a new farm bill “that provides the certainty and predictability our farm families need."
She also says she wants to ensure “that our rural communities are equipped and supported to prosper not just today, but tomorrow. This includes exploring improvements to the department’s rural development programs, demanding strong and steady domestic and export markets for our beautiful agricultural bounty, eliminating burdensome and costly regulations that hamper innovation, ensuring nutrition programs are efficient and effective, and putting in the work to make sure we have a healthy and prepared next generation of farmers, ranchers, and entrepreneurs for the next century of American greatness.”
Rollins has met or spoken with all members of the Senate Ag Committee.
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