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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
President Joe Biden will nominate Janie Simms Hipp, an agricultural law veteran and member of the Chickasaw Nation, to become the Agriculture Department’s general counsel, and USDA also announces new senior leadership positions.
Slowly but surely, President Joe Biden is getting his Cabinet positions filled even as he gets ready to sign the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the massive stimulus package the House cleared on Wednesday.
The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm Vilsack as the nation’s Secretary of Agriculture, giving the former Iowa governor another term at the helm of USDA.
USDA has tapped Monica Rainge to serve as the deputy assistant secretary for civil rights, and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., has been named the new Chair of the Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittee.
It's official. Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow is back as chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee after the Senate finally approved an organization resolution Thursday afternoon. Stabenow last chaired the committee from 2011 to 2015.
Senate Democrats are pushing ahead with a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, even as 10 Republican senators push President Joe Biden to agree to a scaled back version that could get bipartisan support.
Tom Vilsack’s return to USDA has been on hold for reasons because of delays in getting the 50-50 Senate organized. But incoming Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow tells Agri-Pulse she hopes to get Vilsack’s nomination for agriculture secretary approved “as soon as possible” once she takes over the committee.
Congressional leaders spent Tuesday evening behind closed doors working on a sweeping year-end deal that would include a new coronavirus relief package as well as funding for the federal government for the fiscal 2021.
Many farmers, ranchers and forest owners are as concerned about the government response to climate change as they are about the problem itself. But, if the US is going to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, we are going to need the help of agriculture and forestry.