television companies and more, including buckeye broadband. ♪ >> buckeye broadband supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front >> brooke rollins, president trums agriculture secretary committee that r secretary $10 billion in availableeploy economic aid to farmers. she also entered questions from ats about farm labor shortages that result from the policies and insisted the president's deportation plans would focus on migrants who committed crimes.

we are going to take you live now to the confirmation hearing for brooke rounds, president trump's nominee to lead the department of agriculture, testifying before the committee. you are watching live coverage. >> first i would like to congratulate to members of this committee who were instrumental in organizing the inaugural ceremonies that took place at the capitol earlier this week. senator klobuchar in the ranking member of the rules committee in the last congress. for more than a year the joint

congressional on inaugural ceremonies led by senator klobuchar went into planning, organizing a traditional ceremony on the west front of the capitol. decided to the bitter cold until the more intimate ceremony we witnessed on monday. thanks for her efforts and without missing a beat our nations peaceful transformation -- transfer of power was set and the president was sworn in. mentoring thanks to senator klobuchar, fisher and the staff for successfully organizing, hosting one of our nation's most important civic traditions. i would also like to congratulate senator klobuchar by becoming the ranking member of our committee. i worked closely with her over the years and look forward to continuing our partnership.

i met with farmers in cold weather similar to what we experience today, only it was in may. i greatly enjoyed the opportunity to hear those farm families and look forward to hosting her in arkansas in the not-too-distant future. i would like to open the committee members and for those returning, thank you for your continuing service and for our four new members, thank you for choosing to serve on the committee. i look forward to working with you and learning more about what is important to you and your states. our committee established in 1825 as one of the oldest in the senate. our hearing room which we will use in the future is unique in that we don't have 8 -- but a table. we sit across each other, not

away from each other, symbolic and practical. i the forward to convening many meanings in the coming years for us to work together and address the concerns of our farmers and ranchers in rural communities and those needing assistance. as a chairman, my door is open to every member of this committee. the fundamental purpose is to solve problems and help our citizens. i will be to -- welcome you to share your ideas we all care about our nations farmers and ranchers in the state of rule america concerns us all and we all believe no american should be hungry. i intend for this committee to be highly productive in the congress working together and pass a farm bill that will meet the needs of the farmers for today and for the future. this morning we will meet to consider the nomination of

brooke leslie rollins of texas to be the secretary of agriculture. ms. rollins, congratulations to you on your nomination. you are being nominated at a very challenging time for our farmers, with the cost of fuel, seed and fertilizer remain high. interest rates are also very high and continue to be high. farmers everywhere are losing money on every acre they cultivate while farmers in certain parts of the country are losing hundreds of dollars per acre. thankfully, congress responded at the end of last year and help to ensure producers could plan again -- plant again this year. delivering this economic assistance to farmers will be one of the major tasks you will be phased as secretary, but as i mentioned it was only a bridge and necessary because the safety

net are producers of counted on in the past no longer works. i look forward to working with my colleagues across the senate and with you to create a farm bill that meets the realities of modern day agriculture. beyond the economic strains are up farmers and ranchers feel, i believe our producers want an approved relationship with the usda and want to know they have their back and is helping with the tools and support needed to successfully and farm and ranch rather than coursing them into production practices that don't work for their operations. they want new markets and the opportunities to sell what they produce. they want conservation programs to help with the issues they are facing on the farms. in rural communities to have the infrastructure and resources for high quality of life. usda with the right leadership can do all of those things.

beyond agriculture production, u.s. days research institution, regulator, protector of animal health and roland are. there is very little usda doesn't touch or have an impact on. all of these resources and abilities can be used to improve the quality of life, not only in rural america but all of america. as i have met and talked with ms. rollins, it is clear the needs of the american farmers, ranchers and communities will be her focus. it is also clear she has relationships across the new administration and an understanding of the processes in which decisions are made in the executive branch to best position are producers for success. i look forward to seeing her bring her considerable skills and abilities to bear for usda for the benefit of our farmers, ranchers and rural communities.

i now recognize ranking member klobuchar for her opening statement. sen. klobuchar: thank you mr. chairman and we welcome you, ms. rollins. welcome to your entire family that seems to take up 10 rose, as well as the ffa officers. it's kind of an incredible group there, and your ag teacher. i want to thank chairman boozman for holding this important nomination hearing. thank you to our colleagues from texas who are here. senator boseman and i have been friends and colleagues for years and as he noted, you came to visit my state and we didn't consider that cold day in may but considered it a beach day with a touch of snow. i want to thank you for visiting with our farmers and our ranchers and conservation and nutrition leaders in our state. i also look forward to working with you to be a voice for rural america. all of our colleagues on this

committee are incredible voices for rural america. i told democratic leaders on this committee how excited i am about the people on this committee and i believe we are going to work really well together. i want to mention our friend and colleague, senator stabenow, for her leadership in the committee. she is now retired from this committee but whether it was passing farm bills, standing up for conservation programs, or making sure there was food on the table, she was always at the forefront of the fight. i would like to thank all of our returning members as well as the new senators on the committee that senator boseman mentioned. senator schiff and senator slotkin have been strong participants in these discussions we have been having. and senator moran as well as senator justice, thank you. we look forward to continuing the strong tradition of bipartisanship. ms. rollins, thank you for being

here. i enjoyed our previous discussions and i look forward to the hearing today and hearing from you about your plans for the future. i know you and your family -- i just talked to your mom about it, have had a farm in minnesota for years, and i hope you will be visiting our state again soon. as you know, the secretary of agriculture is a voice for rural america within the president's cabinet. if rural america is going to prosper, it will be important to have a secretary who will address the challenges facing farmers and rural families and sees the importance of nutrition and conservation and who will work with us on a strong bipartisan farm bill. we on this committee have made progress on so many fronts, from strengthening crop insurance to improving voluntary conservation programs to the good work we have done on biofuels across the aisle. but there are still numerous

challenges facing america, avian flu, struggling dairy producers, flooding, droughts, wildfires as non-deter schiff whelmed -- as senator schiff well knows, the lack of housing, childcare and housing facilities in rural america. i have concerns about the proposed policies from the administration and while i have always supported targeted tariffs, i am concerned that major across-the-board tariff increases could hurt rural america. i hope that if confirmed ms. rollins will make the case for a sensible trade policy that will work for our farmers in rural america. we need you ruth -- leaders of the usda that believe in science and research which is so critical right now. i know many members will be asking on that front. as a ranking member of this committee, i am committed to doing what is right meaning finding common ground when we can but standing our ground when

we must. in minnesota, our prosperity depends on the strength and vitality of our rule community. farmers and livestock community need access to safety net programs with weather conditions threatening all of the time, input costs and the like. and rural businesses cannot spur innovation and create jobs without an available work force, which i think is going to be an issue we will be confronting this year, as well as childcare, health care, housing, and broadband. i know this is true not just for me but for all members of this committee. i look forward to the hearing today and to learning more about ms. rollins, your plans for the department of agriculture. thank you very much, and think you to our colleagues. chair boozman: today we have been joined by our colleagues from texas to introduce our nominee. thank you all for being here. senator cornyn, will you please proceed? sen. cornyn:: thank you members

of the agriculture committee. i am delighted to be here along with my colleague, senator cruz, to introduce our friend, brooke rawlins, to be the next secretary of the u.s. department of agriculture. this woman is a no-brainer. everybody who knows brooke rollins knows brooke rollins. and you will too once you get to know her. i first met brooke years ago when serving in the state government in texas, but it was when she was the policy director for then governor rick perry that i began to see what a truly dedicated public servant she was and still is. since this time, as you know, from reading the resume and you know she has had an impressive career. i am delighted to be here today to help introduce her. she was born and raised in glenrose, texas. for those of you who haven't pulled out your map to see where that is, it is about an hour

southwest of fort worth. schiff brings first-hand experience to the often difficult realities of farm life -- she brings forth an expense to the often difficult realities of farm life. she graduated from texas a&m. i thought i heard a whoop somewhere. >> whoop whoop. sen. cornyn: texas has more cysts farms than any state -- has more firms than any state in history. this is critical to our state and the nation. brooke's agricultural roots will work well to give farmers and producers from the lone star state and across the country a voice when it comes to president trump's cabinet. ms. rollins' credentials go way

beyond the intricacies of farming. she is also a university of texas law school graduate and a policy wonk. she will confess to that during this hearing today. that is demonstrated by her years of service as general counsel through governor perry and her 15 years leading one of the texas premier policy institute, the texas public policy foundation. it was during president trump's first administration she served as director of domestic policy council. many of us worked with her closely where she assisted jared kushner in that job. you know that position is responsible for coordinating domestic policy making of the white house and ensuring the decisions and programs are consistent with the president's goals and overseeing the implementation of the president's domestic policy agenda. since her time in the first

trump administration, brooke has served as president and ceo of america first public policy institute, where she helped craft the agenda for president trump's second term. i have worked with brooke in a number of roles in seeing her as she has helped advance bipartisan legislation, both in oxygen and here in the nation' -- both in austin and here in the nation's capital in her job. it is a good thing, because she has her job cut out for her. first congress has failed to pass a five-year farm bill and i know that is priority number one from this committee. she will have an opportunity to work with each of you to shape this critical legislation that farmers and ranchers across the country depend on. and hand -- and has has been alluded to by senator klobuchar,

the disasters we have had have hit the farming community and she will work hard to make sure we provide an essential lifeline to farmers and ranchers. as coach turberville knows, the texas a&m football team, of which brooke is a devoted fan, says their student body is the 12 man who propels them to victory. i know brooke is honored to step up now and become the 12th woman for the farmers and ranchers of america. i am looking forward to working with her and all of you to pass a farm bill and put farmers back where they deserve to be, and that is first and foremost in our policy deliberations. i have no doubt brooke is exactly the person for the job to implement president trump's agenda at usda. it is my honor to be here with all of you and her family and multitude of friends, even her

high school aged teacher is here , everybody who knows brooke loves brooke and i know you will too as you get to know her. thank you for allowing me to be here and say a few words. chair boozman: senator cruz. sen. cruz:: members of the committee, let me start by saying what the senator said is absolutely right. this is a no-brainer. brooke rollins as the nominee to be secretary of agriculture is an extraordinary choice. i have absolute confidence that every member will be very happy working with hurt in that role in the next four years. i have been friends with brooke for over two decades, from when she was policy director for then governor rick perry to when she led the texas public policy foundation which became the preeminent free market state foundation in the country, to

when she came to washington to join president trump to leave the domestic policy council, to her more recent years leading the america first policy institute. at every stage she has proven herself to be a leader. she has proven herself to be an innovative policy thinker, and she has proven herself able to bring people together to accomplish major objectives. all of those skills will serve her and the farmers and ranchers of america exceptionally well. to know brooke is to note she is an aggie and all aggies are members of a cult. [laughter] sen. cruz: which i say from a place of deep love, but i am convinced if you were to cut her hand right here it would not bleed red but maroon. she brings that veracity to

everything she does. she brings creativity, joy. brooke is always smiling, and she is smiling because she has a vision of where to take us here she grew up in a small agricultural community, glenrose, texas. her summers were spent at her family's minnesota farm helping with the corn, potato and soybean crops. and i have to say, the level of foresight to kiss up to the ranking member as a young child is impressive. [laughter] sen. cruz: her experience in barrel racing and for everyone who knows barrel racers, yes, they are crazy. [laughter] and raising livestock for four h and future farmers of america installed in her a profound appreciation for the challenges

and rewards of life in agriculture. farmers and ranchers in america right now are facing extraordinary challenges. challenges that are putting their livelihood at risk, putting their families at risk, putting the ability to provide food and fiber and clothing for the american people at genuine risk. the farmers and ranchers of this nation and the great state of texas are looking to this committee for leadership and they are looking to the next secretary of agriculture for leadership. in texas and south texas, we face historic droughts and yet our neighbor, the nation of mexico, is in brazen violation of the 1944 water treaty that obligates it to provide water each year to the people of south texas. i have no doubt that soon to be secretary rounds will be a ferocious advocate for those

south texas farmers, just as she is for the farmers and ranchers in every one of your states and all across the country. she is going to be an extraordinary and historic secretary of agriculture and i am proud to join john cornyn and supporting my friend, brooke rollins, and i encourage you to do the same. chair boozman: thank you, senator cruz. i would now like to recognize our nominee, brooke to introduce some of her guests before i administer the oath and she gives her opening statement. ms. rollins: good morning, everyone. what a joy to be here, and a little surreal and slightly

overwhelming, the two gentlemen sitting up there who might have been known for a long time. so i want to thank them. if you guests, and i appreciate the opportunity to introduce them. my awesome mom right here, whose new issue that the oldest freshman legislator in texas history, helen kerwin. she raised my sisters and me by herself. and p is her bigfas issue. and my husband, and power for children are here with me. luke is the oldest. raise your hand. he is a sophomore at texas a&m university in the corps of cadets and left college station at 1:30 last night -- 1:30 am to

drive all night and catch a flight in dallas to be here this morning. i'm especially grateful to him and my other incredible children. it has been the joy and most important part of my life being their mom. so what a joy to have them. my sister and my niece and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and my incredible ag teacher who i would like to stand up. this is mr. gary rosen bush, who put up with a lot. [applause] i have often said the future farmers of america changed my life and put me on a course that frankly needs me to today. so mr. rosen bush was a big part of that. i went to recognize, a lot of people know i take great pride in my short but very successful at life as a little league softball coach. my daughter lily was the catcher on the team but most of the rest of the team also flew in.

the hot tamales from texas are here. thank you for being here. [applause] my 1990-1990 one state ffa officer teams from all parts of texas. there were 10 of us. the other nine all came. ag teachers, insurance agents, workers of the land, all here. what a joy to have my state ffa officer team here as well. if you all want to stand. what an incredible inspiration. [applause] i could go on and on and i promise i will cut this short. one other thing, pastor franklin of georgia who has been such an inspiration to me, flew in to pray with my family and i this morning. so pastor franklin, i want to thank you as well, one of the great pastors of our time. i have so many texas friends and other family that are here, but i will wrap it there and say what an incredible honor to have

all of them behind me today. chair boozman: that is great. that is wonderful. please stand and raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm that the statement you are about to provide is the truth come the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? ms. rollins: i do. chair boozman: do you agree you will respond or request to appear and testify before any committee of the senate? ms. rollins: i do. chair boozman: again, congratulations on your nomination. you can have a seat and you are recognized for five minutes to give your opening statement. ms. rollins: thank you, chairman bozeman, ranking member klobuchar, and distinguished members of this committee. my thanks to president donald his faith in me to leave the united states department of agriculture, his confidence fuels my determination to deliver. i also want to think my dear

friends and fellow texan sender john cornyn and senator ted cruz introducing me. i want to extend my sincere thanks to all of you, the united states senate committee on agriculture, and, and forestry, for your careful consideration of my nomination and understand and perhaps most importantly, i want to thank and so overwhelmed at the honor to potentially serve the men and women who daily, without pause or complaint, provide our great nation and throughout the past several weeks i have met or spoken with every republican and democratic senator on this committee and i appreciate your insights, your concerns, and your very wise counsel. it is clear we all agree that farmers and ranchers are the cornerstone of our nation's communities and i commit to you today that if confirmed, i will do everything in my ability to

make sure our farmers, ranchers, and rural communities thrive. i also want to thank the many senators and representatives on capitol hill with whom i have had the opportunity to work with these last two decades during my career in public policy. in my time first with governor perry, then leading the texas public policy foundation, in my various roles in the trump administration the first one, and since 2021 in my role founding and leading the america first policy institute. each of you cares deeply about the american people, whom we all serve, and i promise my work will reflect that commitment. growing up in a small ag town in texas, population then 1,200 people, is where my story begins. then my world revofled around the future farmers of america, 4-h and the endless cycle of bailing hay, livestock shows and rodeos. that still today constitute the

calendar of our small corner of texas. that experience sent me to texas a&m on an agriculture scholarship where i majored in ag leadership and development. then on to the university of texas law school, where i graduated with honors and performed a federal judicial clerkship. and of course to helm of policy shop of texas governor rick perry, it was there that i had my first direct leadership role in big state ag policy. i had been in office serving governor perry for two-plus years when i received a call, a small think tank of two or three staffers in san antonio asked if i would be interested in being their new leader, and i anticipated that call -- answered that call as well thinking that as my husband and i built our family that that would be helpful and a good potential opportunity to be a great mom but also continue the fight for texas. over the next 15 years, we fundamentally redefined the mission of a think tank, from

just having ideas or writing about them in papers to actually changing policy for the people of our state. we engaged strongly during those 15 years with texas rural and small town communities, giving them a voice in government that was too often denied. in short, we changed the game in texas. changing the game is exactly why i accepted the invitation to join president trump's first administration at the beginning of 2018. everything that we had sought to do in texas those last decades to make policy for real change, for real texans, was being done in the first trump administration, and i was so honored and excited to be part of it. i joined first to the white house office of american innovation as its leader. i then soon became the assistant to the president in addition on strategic initiatives, and eventually added the role of the director of the domestic policy

counsel. in january 2021, exactly four years ago, we understood that president trump's second term agenda would be delayed, so i had the privilege and the idea of establishing yet another institution of policy leadership and the america first policy institute was born. i currently serve as the president and c.e.o. there. thanks to president trump and to all of you, i hope to have the opportunity to bring that level of passion and commitment to the usda. i need not tell you of all people that this is surpassingly important because agriculture is surpassingly important to us as a nation. all americans are important, but the farmer, the worker of the land who feeds all the others is amongst the most notable. thomas jefferson wrote that agriculture is our wisest pursuit because it will -- excuse me -- i don't want to get

thomas jefferson's quote wrong -- because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness. his wisdom holds true today. i fully recognize that if i am confirmed, i am stepping into the role during one of the most economically challenging times in american agriculture history. with that in mind, i want to share with you as i close my top priorities for day one and then perhaps a longer term priority. first, we must ensure that the disaster and economic assistance authorized by congress is deployed as quickly and as efficiently as possible. second, we must work with the great men and women of usda, the stake hopedder -- stakeholder communities and state leaders to immediately and comprehensively get a handle on the state of animal disease outbreaks. third, we must immediately begin to modernize, realine, rethink 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 over this last historic week. and finally, and longer term, we understand that serving all american agriculture and all the american people means ensuring that our rural communities are equipped and supported to prosper not just today but tomorrow and the day after that and the many tomorrows to come. this includes exploring improvements to our rural development programs, demanding strong and steady domestic and export markets for our beautiful agriculture bounty, eliminating burdensome and costly regulations that hamper hin novation -- innovation, insuring our nutrition programs are firkt and putting in the work to make sure we have a healthy and prepared next generation of farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, innovators and indeed all americans.

this is what we need for the next century of american greatness. these are just four of my top priorities. beyond these, i am dedicated to providing all of you with a timely technical assistance that we will need to ensure that we have a farm bill that moves forward. my aim after all is the same as yours. the same that brought you to the senate, the same that brought donald j. trump to the presidency again, and that is to serve the people and this great country. thank you, senator, and thank you, ranking member klobuchar. chairman boozman: thank you. for your opening statement. as is customary, my colleagues and i would like to ask you some questions. each senator will have seven minutes to ask questions. during this first round. if we need an additional round, that will be five minutes. before i ask my questions, i would like to add a number of letters in support of ms. rollins' nomination to the record in particular i would like to highlight one letter

signed by the farm bureau, the farmers union, the national council of farmers cooperatives and more than 400 other agriculture organizations supporting ms. rollins' nomination. without objection, so ordered. in your written statement, you alluded to -- the testimony that you just provided, you talked about your focus, some of the things you want to -- can you expand on that a little bit more? the first 100 days, what can we expect? ms. rollins: i think the first 100 days, sir, if i am so fortunate to be confirmed, will be a fast and furious effort to ensure that we move that economic aid out. in fact, when i got the call from the president about this particular position, it was the honor of a lifetime to accept that call and to accept the nomination, but then about five minutes later i started thinking about ok, what do i do to make this successful and perhaps the

best, most effective, efficient united states department of agriculture in history since president lincoln first launched this department? the age of the farmers top priority, animal disease top priority, ensuring that we begin to move toward president trump's vision, i work for him. i am his cabinet member. but also working alongside all of you and so many of the conversations that we all had over the last four to six weeks from both sides of the aisle, from both republicans and democrats, were very encouraging to me. i believe that there is an opportunity, while there will be moments of disagreement i have no doubt, that there will also be many moments of agreement. so chairman bozeman, my thought is we get in there and anyone that has worked with me over all these years know that excellence is not only the goal but the expectation that we move with rapid speed to ensure it gets done, that we work 24 hours a day, seven days a week for our

constituents which is american agriculture and that at the end of the day this country and that community is thriving in a way perhaps they never have before because of the work and the foresighted and the goals and vision that i think is so important. chairman boozman: i appreciate you on several occasions bringing up the disaster assistance. this committee worked in a very bipartisan way to get that done. it was a big effort. it took a lot of work, and again we were able to get that done in a very bipartisan way. but that's what we have heard about from our farmers now is thank you for doing it, but we desperately need it so that we can talk to our bankers and try and figure things out from the last year where most farmers lost a lot of money, their path forward. so again that, think i -- i think, is music to all of our ears rmt -- ears.

trade is vitally important. high quality crops help feed the world. can you please describe how the president's trade agenda will prioritize the needs of american farmers and ranchers if our trading partners unfairly target u.s. agriculture producers how will the administration minimize the impact to our producers? ms. rollins: thank you, senator. i am glad this is it -- this is at the top of the next few hours because i think it is on the mind of every member of this committee and perhaps every member of the ag community across this great nation. the first thing i think that's important to note is in the last few years we have almost a $45 billion trade deficit for our ag products. so a key priority will be expanding access to these markets across the country. we have been vision boarding not to get ahead of the process, but i want to make sure i am able to hit the ground running, how it is we begin to mid -- immediately bring down the 4-dz

5 billion trade deficit and juse last year. there is a deep recognition that corn prices are down 35% in the last year as well. the past two years, i am sorry. and that in fact our farmers are hurting. regarding the president's tariff agenda, i think it probably comes as no surprise to anyone sitting in this room that he believes it is a very important tool in his tool kit to continue our bring america back to the forefront of the world and to ensure that we have a thriving economy. but just as he did and we did in the first administration, he also understands the potential devastating impact to our farmers and our ranchers and during that time i have spoken with secretary purdue a few times on how that was managed so we are prepared to execute something similar if approved, if confirmed, but also working with the white house to ensure that we can close those holes

for our farmers and ranchers moving forward under any sort of tariff execution in the next coming days, in the next few years. that will be a top priority of mine. chairman boozman: very good. hunger is an issue that we continue to face. my home state of arkansas has the highest rate of food insecurity in the nation. at usda you will be responsible for leading 16 nutrition programs that assist one in four americans. these programs make up the vast majority of the spending at the department. in spite of these programs, which have grown substantially over the last 20 years, the national food insecurity rate has hovered around 12% since 2001. even during times of economic prosperity. the goal of these programs is to provide temporary assistance to those in need, but the focus on moving families to a place of economic independence has been lost. will you commit to reviewing

these programs to make sure they help incentivize americans to get steady employment while trusting their assistance can be relied on in times of need? ms. rollins: senator, i so appreciate your concern and focus on this incredibly important program. i think sometimes people on our side of the aisle are framed as those that don't care as much about the kids or those who are hurting or those from disadvantaged communities. i know i have spent my career working to ensure that every corner of america, that everyone has a shot at the american dream, first with rick perry, then with my think tank, then with president trump, then with the american first policy group. and so i too have a real heart for this work, and i have talked to many of you about that in your offices. that's perhaps driven by being raised in a small town by a single mom, and with -- we

didn't have much. we never participated in the nutrition program, but i am fully aware and have a heart for this work and for this community that is easy to make the commitment to ensure that we are doing everything we can, that this supplemental program continues on a course of being effective and efficient. having said that, it's also imperative to us that every taxpayer dollar that is spent in support of these programs we fully understand that it is reaching its intended recipient, that that recipient is able to use it efficiently for true nutrition reasons, that we have a real health issue in this country. you all know this. i think four out of five children are facing obesity or close to it. the level of diabetes and chronic diseases continue to rise. so we together and mayself -- myself if so fortunate to be confirmed will have a major role in all of the above, ensuring

that these programs are serving those who need them and doing it effectively, but also ensuring that the taxpayers are being well served, that the dollar that we take from my electrician in fort worth who has his own small business and sending it to a family in need, that that dollar is being used in the best and most effective way. so that is certainly my commitment to you, chairman. chairman boozman: thank you. senator klobuchar. senator klobuchar: thank you very much, mr. chairman. again welcome, ms. rollins. as we both noted, this committee has worked together and all the members know this on a bipartisan way to pass farm bills in the past, improve the farm safety net, stand up for conservation and food security. will you be a force for working with both sides of the aisle? ms. rollins: thank you so much, senator klobuchar, for that question and it is exceedingly important to me that we deliver for american farmers and

ranchers, exceedingly. and i have already begun to lose some sleep over how to make that happen in a way that is productive in supporting your work and i have a long history of working in a bipartisan manner. it may not be at the forefront of my resume but i worked with many of you in the last administration on the first step back which i believe was perhaps the hallmark of president trump 1.0 in bipartisan work together. i sat in an office for many hours with senator durbin, senator grassley, senator booker, senator scott, and many others from both sides as we hammered out how to solve the criminal justice challenges that we are facing and i hope that bring that same skill set and perhaps knowledge base in relationships to this effort as well. senator klobuchar: thank you. i appreciated you mentioned animal disease as one of your

lead priorities as well as the disaster economic assistance. as you know, and you and i discussed this, since 2022, the most recent outbreak of avian flu has devastated poultry producers, spread to dairy cattle, resulted in at least one death, but we are starting to see increases in certain prices attributed to that. if confirmed, how will you ensure that farmers have the resources they need to combat the spread of this virus? what is your plan? ms. rollins: there is no doubt that what the community and whom we all work for, that community, not just america but the entire world relies on for an abundant, safe and secure food supply. and just learning of the devastation in georgia, just over the last few weeks with the poultry outbreak and the depopulation there of our

poultry, of course, to your point about dairy, it's been infecting some of the dairy herds i believe across 16 states. there is a lot that i have to learn on this and if confirmed, this will be as i mentioned one the very top priorities. we are hyperfocussed on finding the team right now -- i am sure they're already working. i have respected the process and not gotten too involved, but i know that the current team and the future team will be working hand in hand to do everything we can on man mall -- on animal disease and senator, if i may add one more thing, my deep background working in state policy, included working very closely with governors offices and ag commissioners across this great country. in fact, in the last white house, i took it upon myself -- which is where i met a few of our governors who are now here -- to work closely and in concert and aligned with both republican and democrat leaders from the states. senator klobuchar: thank you.

we have seven minutes so i will go a little quicker. i will note that just yesterday the administration announced they will halt external public health communications from the c.d.c. on these avian flu animal diseases and these important announcements have helped keep producers up-to-date with the latest information on disease spread, health of workers, and while i know that wasn't under the usda i urge you to talk to them about that where concerned. biofuels, and i appreciated our discussion on that, while you served as the c.e.o. of the texas public policy foundation, your organization was often critical on biofuels including ethanol. we have worked really hard to make this so we don't just have one fuel, that we have options here, including with senator ernst and senator fischer and grassley, senator thune, many others. what role do you believe

biofuels play in our domestic energy production? how will you continue to promote the production of these fuels as secretary? ms. rollins: thank you. i appreciate you bringing that up. it's my understanding that those reports were written over a decade ago. i haven't seen anything more recent. texas public policy foundation puts out almost 900 to 1,000 pieces of content a year. i did not author that specific piece. but to be clear, there is no doubt coming from texas, i was a massive defender of fossil fuels and the importance of fossil fuels in the energy independence and energy dominance narrative. clearly i have spoken with so many of you on both sides of the aisle on this issue. i will be a secretary for all agriculture. it is really important to me that we continue to defend and elevate and honor all sources of fuel. my former boss and current boss in his current energy dominance plan included biofuels as an important piece of his agenda. so i really look forward to

continuing that. senator klobuchar: i know your family based on the forms -- i appreciate you getting us those forms -- that your family has significant financial interests in the oil industry. will these interests motivate decisions you make at the department especially when they impact your family's financial holdings? ms. rollins: senator, i can promise you this. you and i have met a few times through the years, had more in-depth discussions but not as many as i would like, hopefully more in the future, but i can promise you this. anyone that has ever worked with me will tell you, even to the detriment of organizations i have run, detriment financially to my potential family, that i have never, not ever made a decision based on financial interest ever. and that certainly will not begin now. senator klobuchar: thank you. you discussed briefly with senator boozman the export market. i appreciated you mentioned that in your long-term focus on exports.

adds you -- as you know, during the first trump administration, we heard resounding calls from farmers that they want trade, not aid. exact words, i am remembering. they want to grow their market and not just give government payment. we worked hard on this committee to help farmers build markets here and abroad. senator hoeven and i have set up rural export center in fact, and ms. rollins, how would you work with president trump, the office of the ud trade -- u.s. trade rep and others within the administration to ensure that they understand the effects of potential retaliatory tariffs on american farmers and how will you help them manage this risk and beyond just getting extra payments to make up for it, will you be a voice to make sure people understand the importance of exports for rural america? it's not just farming. it's also manufacturing and the like. ms. rollins: no, that's correct. i believe extraordinary value

that i potentially bring to this table is having served in the last white house for three years, right alongside president trump. i believe i may be the most well versed in how the interagency process works of all the cabinee interagency process works of how the discussions are handled, of what the oval office meetings look like, and how to ensure that at every corner that my team, that our community that what we all represent together is at the table fighting for what we believe is necessary for these communities. senator klobuchar: thank you. i have some important questions for the second round here on conservation and nutrition and i know my colleagues will be asking them as well. thank you. ms. rollins: thank you. chairman boozman: senator mcconnell. senator mccome: congratulations on your nomination. i appreciate you coming by the office. i had a chance to tell you then that kentucky agriculture is a

little different. it's 75,000 farms but most of them are small. we are also the number one beef cattle state east of the mississippi. people don't generally associate kentucky with that. i want to echo what others here have said about trade. i went over to the trade representative on the floor of the house. we were there for the big speech, and introduced myself, and i said, do you have anything to do? and she basically didn't have an answer. it seems to me that trade is sort of become a word for a lot of americans that implies exportation of jobs. in kentucky, we think of trade as exportation of products. it's extremely important part of what we do.

i think both of the candidates in the last election sort of shied away from this issue, as others have said, give us some hope that maybe we can get back in the trade business. we would need trade mo -- promotion authority which we currently don't have. i would be interested in your thoughts further about this. ms. rollins: thank you, senator mcconnell. it was an honor to be in your office, to talk a little bit about kentucky bourbon and a few other important things. it's the first time i have ever heard anyone say that president trump has shied away from anything. i don't specifically have or recall anything specific about him not talking about trade other than perhaps to your point that our country and especially our ag community is in a tough spot right now with regards to

exports and moving our products out. i know that the usmca is back up for negotiation along with other trade agreements. here is what i am very encouraged about, senator. i hope it perhaps gives you some encouragement as well. in my now almost nine years, maybe eight years with president trump, at the end of the day we all know him to be the consummate deal maker. i believe that that skill and that intense focus on making deals for his people, not only for america but for the ag community that supported him at 90% since really the very beginning, i think 338 counties out of 344 agriculture counties voted for him. he knows that these are the people that have been with him the longest, and i sincerely believe that if i do my job and in working with all of you to ensure that the white house and that our partners across the

agencies have all of the data that they need, while at the same time we are working across the world to bring in new trade partners, to expands -- to expand access for new trade products, whether it's the specialty crops or the livestock industry, i believe as the president mentioned that we are embarking on a golden age and i also believe this is going to be a very, very big part of that. senator mcconnell: i want to shift to something kentucky speb that we discussed -- specific that we discussed in the office. back in 2020 through the appropriations process, i managed to allocate $65 million for an agricultural research service lab at the kentucky college of agriculture. that was four or five years ago. nothing has happened yet. so what did happen?

well, there were a number of different regulatory trip wires that got injected into the process. in meeting those -- trying to meet those trip wires, slowed everything down, everything down, everything down. i want to see construction begin, the money is there. what can you tell me to give me hope? ms. rollins: we did discuss this, and again another passion of mine that has been mentioned is my love for texas a&m and the ag school and the research facilities. i am really excited to get knee-deep, waist deep, neck deep, in these facilities across the country. i know we also had discussions with some of the other senators on this committee that they have similar concerns with some different facilities that they

would like to see move more quickly. senator mcconnell, i commit to you that we will immediately begin digging in on what is happening. a big part of my portfolio in the last administering was the president's deregulation agenda, and understanding how certain regulations and rules hampered important projects from moving forward and opening up markets, etc. so i actually believe that with the right team in place and with your quick confirmation of some of those undersecretaries that we will be able to dig in, figure out what is happening, work with you and others from kentucky to figure out what is going on and figure out how to move this forward. senator mcconnell: i will just say the previous administration was big on regulations. across the board. i think they all ought to be looked at in terms of the impact

on the economy and i think that's what the new administration intends to do. thank you. ms. rollins: thank you, senator. i agree with that and look forward to working with you and others on that. chairman boozman: senator bennett. senator: i want to thank you and the ranking member for your opening statements, both of you together i think capture the spirit of what this committee is supposed to be about and in a congress where we have not worked well together and i just want to say how much i appreciate your leadership today. the two of you. thanks also for mentioning chairman stabenow who did a great job for a long period of time, ms. rollins, congratulations to you. you mentioned in your answer just now to senator mcconnell, not a question i was going to ask, but since you i mentioned him, you said we all recognize agriculture is in a tough place when it comes to exports.

could you -- we do all recognize that. could you elaborate more on that? we would love to hear your perspective on the hole that many of us feel that we are in right now as we get ready to think about what the trade policies are going to be of this administration. and of the country. ms. rollins: thank you, senator bennet. loved our conversation about your beautiful colorado. >> thank you. come any time. ms. rollins: i would welcome that. we do spend some time there in the summers as good texans do getting out of the heat. i will look forward to seeing you next time. in the last handful of years, we have gone from not having a trade deficit in our agricultural communities to having a $45 billion trade deficit. of course, that has led to many challenges including food inflation and i know when i have heard president trump talk about his priorities the first is the border, which i am guessing we will get into at some point.

but second was food inflation. and so there are many tools in our tool kit both through usd arc and expanding markets which are all intertwined to begin immediately to work to bring that deficit down and hopefully soon get it to zero. my commitment is to -- >> i would say -- ms. rollins: yes, sir. senator bennett: the deficit we know is being caused by a strong dollar. it's being caused by competition from brazil. it's being caused by limitations on our beef supply. it's being caused by prices that are going up. these are -- i don't think these particularly are failures in trade policy. it's making it harder for us to export, which is what senator mcconnell's concern was, which i share, and i think that all of us understand and actually i will say there are many ways in which i am sympathetic to some

of the trade policies that president trump is trying to advocate for, but agriculture is already in a tough spot for those reasons, i think, largely, and we don't want it to be in a tougher spot as a result of what happens here. i think when you were in my office, you talked a little bit -- this will be the easiest question that you get, and i hope you will only take 15 seconds to answer it so i can go on to the next, which is what is your responsibility as the secretary of agriculture to go into the oval office and say you haven't thought through the unintended consequences that are going to flow to american agriculture if you pursue these trade policies. ms. rollins: senator, my role is to defend, to honor, to elevate our entire agriculture community in the oval office around the table through the interagency process and to ensure that every di -- decision that is made in the coming four years has that

front of mind as those decisions are being made. >> i agree also with what senator klobuchar said, what we have heard from our farmers and ranchers over and over again is they want to be able to do the work, to be able to export. they don't want to solve this problem by getting aid to make up for what they should have been able to send it asia. the only growth my farmers and ranchers can see in the foreseeable future which is to say their lifetimes is by growing our exports of agriculture. so i appreciate your understanding that. and we are counting on you if you are in this job to be that advocate. we also had the chance when you were in my office to talk a little bit about something that i have focused on here the entire time i have been on this committee which is the state of our national forests throughout the american west. as you know and i know you know this, they're incredibly important to us because every single community that we have, no mat irhow -- no matter how

big or small, every single farm and ranch we have is downstream from these snow packs and downstream from these national forests and the condition of these national forests and they are national forests for a reason. they are national forests. the condition is untenable and dangerous. i told chuck schumer, he doesn't necessarily agree, but i have told him over and over again that these forests more important infrastructure from our perspective than the lincoln tunnel is to new york. the lincoln tunnel is closed, there are other things you can do. he may not agree with that. but if we lose our water, we lose everything in the west. we are watching what is going on now in california. senator schiff, with broken hearts, because of what is happening there. we have seen it happen as a -- at a much smaller scale but universal in our say with things

like the marshall fire. i wonder if you could talk a little bit about the importance of these national forests, how you think about the stewardship, whether or not we should be considering the fact that if we wait to fight these fires, it costs $50,000 an acre to fight them, whereas if we do the work on the front end, putting people to work in our national forests, it can cost $1,400 an acre. i would love to hear your perspective on that. ms. rollins: senator, i am so glad you brought this up. i believe -- senator schiff and i spoke about this in his office a week or two ago. they were facing an unimaginable experience in california. i am really excited to tackle this problem. i don't pretend to even know the beginnings of it. i have just started studying it,

but it seems to me and after speaking with you and others on the committee and beginning to learn, i think we have a great undersecretary announced, the quicker we can get him confirmed, the quicker we can really begin this hard work ahead. and my husband's family owns a little cabin on the edge of a national forest in colorado. so i too have spent about the last 25 years enjoying the national forests and the extraordinary beauty that they bring to our people. but the water is a massive issue, and you and i talked about that. 40 million people depend on the water that is under your land in colorado, and i do believe and maybe people call me a pathological optimist but maybe the pathological optimist in me believes that we can fix this and we can fix it fairly quickly with the right team in place and working with all of you who have watched it, been frustrated by it, and want an answer.

senator hoeven: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to express to both you and to the ranking mb that -- member that i think we are fortunate to have both of you in the role as chairman and ranking member. we worked on many things in the past together and i very much look forward to working with you in the future. again, i feel fortunate to have both of you in these roles. welcome. ms. rollins: thank you. senator hoeven: thanks for coming to advice the -- visit at the office. you have an awesome family. ms. rollins: the best. senator hoeven: thanks to your husband being here and your kids. no one will ever love you the way you your mom does. ms. rollins: she's missing an important vote in texas today to sit behind me. really grateful. senator hoeven: it's great. you have a fantastic family. and we mentioned all this talk about a&m. did i tell you when we talked

that my wife went to u.t.? ms. rollins: we did and i had my sincerest condolences. senator hoeven: that's kind of fun. i am wearing my north dakota state university tie today. i know we talked about them. but we do have an incredible school of agriculture at north dakota state university. ms. rollins: yes, you do. senator hoeven: we have a project called grand farm. sonny purdue cut the ribbon on it. we have a partnership on precision agriculture that's incredible. and so i am going to invite you to come out to our state right away and see what we are doing. would you commit to coming out and seeing what we have and meeting our folks? ms. rollins: i would love to come visit, and i have said i think it's been reported in press that if you can get me on a horse, i would love to ride a horse as we are working on all these issues across the states and really look forward to that.

only if you ride with me. senator hoeven: we will absolutely ride. one of my sisters raced barrels. my job was to get the horses in the trailer, which is sometimes easy, sometimes not, depending on the horse. but we will do it. i am so glad to hear that. love your background in ranching. my grandfather was a cattle rancher back in the good old days when we raised herefords. will you commit to work with us to get a farm bill and it is so incredibly important in agriculture as you know, we have a system of family-based farmers and ranchers across this country, 16 million people involved in agriculture in some way, shape or form. look at all these other industries that are concentrated. we have a system of family-based farmers and ranchers, small businesses, and what they produce for every single american, every single day, is

the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world. americans have better choice, better quality and spend less of their budget on food than almost any other developed country. that's what we have because we have good farm policy. that means affordable crop insurance and that means a countercyclical safety net that works, keeping the farm in the farm bill. will you commit to help us get that -- we are past due. we need to get it done. will you commit to help us get it done and in the way i described? ms. rollins: yes, sir. again, maybe the pathological optimist in me but i have talked to both sides of the aisle, the complexity, the challenges in the last year or so of re-authorizing it, and i hope that i can be a force multiplier and i hope what i bring to the table is the opportunity to work alongside both sides to get us where we need to be for our farmers and ranchers and some

security, some understanding that the net is there and that the loans are there and that the insurance is there and that they can continue to be the best producers in the world for the world food supply. so i really look forward to that. providing you the technical assistance that you need to be able to do your job, but also if asked or if called to help in any other way i can to get this done. senator hoeven: your relationship with president trump will be important in that effort. we already saw it as we worked on the disaster piece that we included with the extension of the farm bill. will you commit to work closely not only with this committee but with our ag appropriations committee as we administer that emergency assistance? ms. rollins: 100%, yes. whether that's at 2:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning, midnight, i am always available and will work harder than anyone to ensure that you all have everything you need across the capitol. senator hoeven: the president's help there is was important and

i want that acknowledged. also tariffs. we went through this in president trump's first term. i worked with sonny bur due -- purdue when china targeted our farmers and ranchers. we want markets. talk for a minute about -- we look at tariffs as a way to get markets for our farmers and ranchers so that he can compete on a level playing field. we did have to do the m.f.p. give me your thoughts on how we are going to approach this. ms. rollins: as i mentioned, when i got the call about this particular position from the president, we were driving our motor home across mississippi on our way to auburn for the texas a&m-auburn game. i clearly wasn't expect ago call from the president at that moment, but when it came and when we talked about this job, i celebrated, prayed with my family, and then midly -- immediately began understanding what happened last time and ensuring that we have the right

team on the field that can immediately execute to ensure that we are solving for these major challenges. so the undersecretary that will be coming before you hopefully quickly, mr. chairman, helped run that program under sonny purdue. the staff that he is building out if confirmed is the same team that did it before with the idea that we can't reinvent wheel. senator hoeven: that's good to hear. we did have to do some things to get it rocking and rolling. we look forward to working with him again. so china or anybody else knows we will defend our guys and we will make them play fair. on a level playing field, our farmers outcompete anybody in the world. on just a couple others, one is the sugar industry is huge in my state. that involves trade very directly. will you commit to work with me on that industry? senator klobuchar also shares that same concern, i think.

ms. rollins: senator ship and i discussed it as well. don't leave out senator smith. my minnesota senators. senator hoeven: i want to emphasize that senator smith shares that concern. ms. rollins: yes, 100%. any of these industries i am here and will always be available. senator hoeven: we have worked with your potential dep stee secretary as well -- deputy secretary as well. i want your commitment that both on behalf of yourself and him that you will work with us on access on the forestlands, which as you know we have ag and many other interests out there on these forests on the national grasslands, access is an issue we need your help. will you commit to help us on that? ms. rollins: 100%. yes, sir. thank you, senator. senator klobuchar: thank you, senator. as you noted we have not one but two minnesota senators. we are blessed to have senator

smith with us. >> thank you, ranking member. i want to say i share my congratulations to you and to chair boozman for leading this committee. i love serving on this committee. i love the bipartisan spirit that we have and i even love senator hoeven, who always forgets that i care about sugar in minnesota. ms. rollins: she even loves you, senator hoeven. senator smith: welcome to you and your family. i can see how proud your family is of you. i appreciated very much our conversation in nigh office -- my office and i appreciate your minnesota roots and connection in clear lake, minnesota. thanks for that. we have lots to talk about and i am going to get right to it. i wanted to start out by raising the issue of ethanol and sugar. i am so glad that senator klobuchar and senator hoeven have touched on those two issues. both of which are vitally important to minnesota agriculture. ethanol is homegrown energy. it is a major economic driver in minnesota. $billion to our economy and similarly the national sugar

program supports more than 150,000 jobs in our country and contributes $23 billion a year to the u.s. economy and it is run with zero cost to u.s. taxpayers. so i appreciate your commitment to work with us on those two important programs. let's turn to rural development. you come from a small town and i represent a state filled with small towns and rural places, places that are full of energy and creativity and innovation and talent. i think we also know that small towns and rural communities face unique challenges, and i sometimes think that people forget that the rural development side of the usda is really important, that portfolio is very important. i will be honest, i am fearful that the work done there, those efforts not being well understood could become the target for budget cutting. i also know that american farmers and ranchers really trust the usda on those issues. they don't want to see those

programs farmed out to other agencies whether we all are worried they would get less attention. we talked about this in my office. let's dive in. two big rural development agencies, housing and childcare. we know we have a serious shortage of affordable housing in rural communities. these are places where our elders and folks that live on fixed incomes, people who make our food system work, it's where they live. foredecades the rural housing service at the urvetion -- usda has helped those communities. everyone agrees it needs to be updated. last congress we introduced the rural housing service reform act to do that, we had 14 bipartisan co-sponsors. i want to ask you first, ms. rollins, can you talk a bit about your vision for how the usda can engage on rural housing and will you work with me on rural housing service reform as we are describing in our bill? ms. rollins: thank you, senator smith. i think of all of the portfolio

if confirmed that i am taking on, the one that excites me the most is the opportunity to put forward a vision and build a program around restoring and bringing back rural america, and clearly the federal government itself can't do that. there will be many factors, but the idea that we at usda can lead that effort, that it's not just about elevating our farmers and ensuring our ranchers are protected. it is an all approach. it is housing. it is childcare. it is education. it is all of the above. one of the things i think i bring to the table and i think senator smith, you and i discussed this, in the last white house i led the effort called the white house opportunity and revitalization council. we hired scott turner to lead it

who is now president trump's housing nominee and you all haven't met him, will love meeting him, former nfl player and a pastor and visionary. but in that effort we were focused on urban communities and the disadvantaged communities within those urban communities. over the course of many months, across the agencies, across the government under president trump, we focused on the myriad programs that were dupe kateive, that fried to serve the same constituency that sometimes were fine but other times was not a great use of dollars, so having an all of government approach like that where we can really understand what role h.h.s. plays, what role housing plays and doing it quickly so we can begin to roll it out. final thing i will say, senator, america at 250 which america turns 250 next year will be an incredible opportunity for us to take this message to every corner of rural america and to really get people focused on it. senator smith: i appreciate that. i think we need to bring that

message but we also need to make sure we are supporting and improving wherever we can those rural development programs at usda and not throwing them under the bus because i can tell you that they are counted on by folks in rural communities. i hope we will be able to work together on that. ms. rollins: i look forward to it. senator smith: i want to touch on the nutrition programs at usda. nutrition programs are foundational for healthy americans. 2/3 of snap recipients are families with children. 1/3 are families with older adults or people with disabilities. snap is a rural development tool. in minnesota, rural communities have the highest food insecurity in the whole state. in this country, nine out of 10 countries with the highest food insecurity rates are rural. ms. rollins, can you talk to me about how you see the rules around snap and let's start with what you think about work requirements for snap. ms. rollins: first, i understand this is an incredibly important

issue to everyone on the committee. my commitment is to ensure that we have the research and understanding of this program to make sure we are serving those that need it. as i mentioned earlier raised by a single mom in a rural community with two little sisters, she worked at the library. she made $5 an hour. i understand this. senator smith: is it your view we -- need to change the requirements for snap? ms. rollins: it probably will be no surprise to everyone on this committee, republican and democrat, and through a course of 20 years of being a policy leader that i do believe in work requirements. i do think they're important. i don't fully understand but plan to get more in the weeds on this if confirmed and working with all of you to make sure your concerns are part of that education process for me. senator smith: my view and this is the official view of the usda is that snap should ensure that no one is going hungry in this country but that it reflects the importance of work and responsibility in this country and that is why snap has extensive work requirements in

place and folks that are not required to work under snap, very small number, it's because they are taking care of a child or an incapacitated person because they aring in an alcohol or drug -- participating in an alcohol or drug treatment program, because they are already working under some other program. so i will ask you to consider this as you look at this because again i don't think that this is a good place to be looking for extra dollars when we have so many people that are struggling with food insecurity even though they are working one or maybe two or three jobs. i know i am out of time. ms. rollins: thank you, senator. i commit to working with you and look forward to it. senator klobuchar: thank you, senator smith. senator ernst, our neighbor to the south. senator ernst: thank you, ranking member klobuchar and a great neighbor as has been mentioned, between minnesota and iowa. amy has worked with me on so

many different agriculture and biofuel-related issues. i am excited to work with you, senator klobuchar. you and chairman boozman as we work on a five-year farm bill. it is very important that we get that done and it is something that i hear continuously from iowans as i travel all 99 counties in my great state. of course, to you, mrs. brooke rollins, thank you so much for being here today and thank you for bringing your friends and family. i know how important that support is, and i am excited to see you as our nominee for secretary of agriculture. i know you are an ag girl at heart. we have talked about it at length. i truly am too. i do have full confidence in your ability to lead this department, full faith and confidence in this role. ms. rollins, something that you and i talked about. i will start with this one. we talked about it at length, is

telework. i know that we must address some of the work policies for federal employees at the department of agriculture. as you know, the g.a.o. reported usda's headquarters has the space utilization rate at just 11%. 11%. i have even received a whistleblower letter from employees describing the building as a ghost town. so last year i addressed this exact issue with then-secretary tom vilsack and was met with very strong opposition. rather than provide any evidence to dispute the g.a.o.'s numbers, even after repeatedly following up with his staff, he refused to give me specific in-office numbers or building utilization data. in stark contrast, president trump acted immediately to get our federal work force back to actually working for the

american people. so, ms. rollins, in line with these efforts, what is your plan to achieve the 60% utilization goal for your headquarters building which has been set by congress? and secondly, will you commit to requiring each usda employee to show up to the office? ms. rollins: senator ernst, thank you. i really loved our time. we first started talking about this way before the election, and i love your intense focus on ensuring that those who are hired and paid by taxpayer dollars are fully committed to serve in the most effective way wherever and for whomever they work and that is i believe being in an office almost every single time. it's not my belief alone. president trump has been talking about this. i believe there was an executive order in the last day or two calling for the same.

so i do look forward to getting into the office and hopefully very soon really working to effectuate the most effective work force that the united states department of agriculture has ever had in the history of this country, and in so doing ensuring that they are all in the office to make that happen. senator ernst: wonderful. thank you for that commitment. another area that has been brought up frequently here on the dies and won that won't be a surprise to you but critically important is biofuels. it's a key source of demand for our corn and our soybeans. during the biden administration, this industry really did suffer from deflated renewable -- the r.v.o.'s. the last minute announcements on sales of e15 and the lack of clear tax policy guidance on the 45z clean fuel production credit, which is something that roger marshall of kansas city

and i were just discussing. these plants have been forced to stop production completely. this is a huge issue for us. this is threatening hundreds of rural jobs and squeezing grain prices in the process. so i do applaud president trump for making e15 a priority. i did -- he did have an executive order on that, but i do look forward to securing a permanent fix in law. but we will need an all hands on deck approach for crafting future r.v.o.'s that reflect production capacity and guidance on the 45z that will support american farmers. ms. rollins, the usda has a very big role to play when crafting these policies. as secretary, will you commit to supporting biofuels and working with me to provide certainty for our farmers and the entire renewable fuel industry? ms. rollins: yes, senator. i really look forward to that. i think there is no question where president trump stands on

this. i believe if memory serves me correctly there was an executive order on this in the last administration. i didn't come out of domestic policy. it came out of the n.e.c. so i didn't work out of that directly but i believe the courts overturned it and chrebetly stated that the -- correctly stated that the congress should take that up. i look forward to working with you but also with my friend lee diselden -- zeldin on a piece of this with my friend scott over at treasury. i think you all will find and i hope you cabinet, if confirmed, we all know each other, are friends. many of us are like family. we really, really are looking forward to working together on these cross-agency issues, like the ones you just outlined. sen. ernst: that's wonderful. really appreciate that. in the last administration, i have to say that in conversations with the leaders at all of those agencies, we were really blown off and left swinging in the breeze. i anticipate that president

trump will want to do right by our farmers and those that are producing renewable fuels. another issue, just very quickly, ms. rollins, top of mind for iowa is proposition 12. we are the number one hog producer in the united states, number one hog producing state. california's ballot initiative has been very devastating for our family farms and is only fueling market consolidation for pork producers. just ultimately, what we would like to do is move on legislation to craft a way forward so that we don't have states telling our producers how they can raise their live stock. very important to us. so ms. rollins, in line with president trump's priority to lower food costs for american families, will you commit to working with this committee to reverse proposition 12? ms. rollins: proposition 12, and i have just in the last few

months become very awanted with it, the idea that one state -- and listen, i'm a federalism believer. i believe in the founders' vision of the 10th amendment and government closest to the people is the government that should be most active under that 10th amendment. but this particular issue, i believe from even a bipartisan perspective, there's no doubt that it's not just affecting california, it's affecting multitudes of other states, multitudes of other parts of the ag community, including our hog family farms. iowa, but many other states, have been really affected by this as well. i know that you guys, you don't already have a bill filed, you're soon to file one. legislation has been drafted. i look forward to working with you on that. sen. ernst: thank you. i look forward to hosting you on iowa in an ag and biofuels tour, and i would welcome your family as well. thank you very much, and i yield back. sen. boozman: thank you very

much. mrs. rollins, i took your advice. when we met yesterday, you told me about your mother's agenda as a texas state representative on the issue of pfas, and i should make point of meeting her. she was the first person i met in the room today. ms. rollins: she's special, isn't she? sen. durbin: sure is. it looks like we'll have the possibility of a real bistate-federal alliance on an issue important to everybody. i'm glad she came and glad i met her. ms. rollins: thank you, sir. sen. durbin: we talked about a lot of things yesterday, and i will talk about one that's in the headlines this morning and will be for a long time, the mass deportation of undocumented people from the united states. i mentioned to you that i've been surprised by the response i received among farmers and ranchers and people involved in agriculture when it comes to the immigration issue. i told you about the dairy farmer who said, senator durbin, we're going to close down a dairy operation after three

generations in our family because we need immigrant workers for dairy operations in illinois. another young lady with the farm bureau raised her hand and said, while you're at it, include the orchards. who's going to pick this crop? it isn't the local kids at the high school. they won't even man the fruit stand out by the highway if i don't put an air conditioner there. i can't get them to work for me. turns out that 40% of the farm workers in this country are undocumented. you know what that means. they're vulnerable to being deported. if they're deported, what are the farmers going to do? for a lot of them, for different industries, immigration is critical. your organization has said some things, pretty strong things. your the american first policy institute have called for deportation at a scale that actually matters, massive deportation efforts. so i just need to ask you, what is your policy on immigration? we've got to get down to the

real world, not the criminals. we don't want them, they shouldn't come here, and they shouldn't stay. but those who work every single darn day to pick a crop, the american people are not going to pick themselves, and most of them, i shouldn't say most, but 40% are undocumented. can we expect this administration to be raiding farms and going after the immigrant farm workers? ms. rollins: senator, thank you, and i really was grateful for our time yesterday and our time working together in the last administration. i appreciate your kindness. i was a little late yesterday. there was some confusion, and gave me a little grace, so i really appreciate that. the president's vision of a secure border and a mass deportation at a scale that matters is something i support. i was his domestic policy director in the last white

house. i have built and led an organization alongside chad wolf, our former secretary of homeland security, at the america first policy institute. i want to be extremely transparent, and i think that you deserve that. that is my commitment, to help president trump deploy his agenda in an effective way, while at the same time defending, if confirmed as secretary of agriculture, our farmers and ranchers across this country. so having both of those, which you may argue is in conflict, but having both of those as key priorities, my job is to work with, if confirmed, the secretary of labor from oregon, but she herself has family farms in california and oregon, to work with her on the h2 a program torque also work with all of you to reform and perhaps modernize that h2a program.

we'll also say the president has been very clear that this first round will be aimed at, as you mentioned, those who have committed crimes and are criminals while inside our borders over the last four years. so we will follow the data. we will follow and listen to our farmers and ranchers as this is moving, and my commitment is to work with all of you to work to solve and do everything we can to make sure that none of these farms or dairy producers are put out of business. sen. durbin: i support your answer. dangerous people shouldn't be here. and if they're here, they should be gone, period. but when we're talking massive deportation, we've gone beyond dangerous criminals. i just wonder if we ought to give fair warning to farmers and ranchers across america, if you have immigrant labor, you can expect federal agents to come and search your property. is that in the future for farmers and ranchers under the mass deportation plan? mrs. rollins: sir, i have not

been involved in that. the president's current plan, i cannot answer that one way or the other. i do know that my job is to ensure that as those conversations are ongoing, if confirmed, that i am part of that data collection and understanding and that the president understands that what this means to our agriculture community. and i believe sincerely that he will execute his agenda, that he has promise would the american people, but that we'll never forget our ag community in so doing. sen. durbin: i certainly hope so, because these men and women, immigrant labor on our farms, are doing back-breaking work every single damn day, and they've done it for years. and many of them, 40% of them, are unyou wanted to. if they are going to be deported, then we've seen a lot fewer fruits and vegetables that we take for granted. i think that's part of the reality. when it comes to the snap program, the work requirement and the asset requirements, do you think we ought to apply work and asset requirements to other

agriculture programs? mrs. rollins: senator durbin, i look forward to learning more about those. i have actually spent most of my time on snap in preparing for this hearing. i'm aware there's 16 other nutrition programs across the united states department of agriculture. i look forward to learning more about all of those, meeting with those that are running them, even looking across the agencies to see who else is working on these projects and ensuring that thirty most effective for those who need them, but also the most efficient for the taxpayer. sen. durbin: project 2025, you're familiar with. it calls for capping crop insurance payouts to $40,000 per farmer and terminating long-time usda export promotion programs. what's your position on this project 2025 proposal? mrs. rollins: the america first professional institute wasn't involved in project 2025. we were not part of any policy process and have nothing to do with it, and so i'm sorry, i

don't know that i can answer that specifically. i will say that my role is to defend farmers and ranchers in our ag communities with everything i have, so as i am looking at all of these programs, aside from anything that other think tanks put together, my commitment is to ensure that we follow the data and protect our ag community. sen. durbin: thank you. mrs. rollins: thank you. sen. hyde-smith: thank you, mr. chairman. congratulations. i'm so excite to work with you. i think it's really neat that you got the call from president trump, and i believe you were in newton, mississippi. mrs. rollins: newton, mississippi, in the wal-mart parking lot. sen. hyde-smith: when you got your call on the way to the auburn game. i believe that went through three overtimes, if i remember correctly. mrs. rollins: it did, and the aggies once again ran out of time, which is our november game plan these days. sen. hyde-smith: that was a super exciting day for sure, no doubt, and it was so nice to get

to meet mark out at the national finals rodeo. thank you for accepting the invitation to come there. but i want to highlight two important things before diving into the questions. and that is the supplemental that was passed before christmas. and i just want to thank senator boozman. i want to thank collins on her incredibly important to get that into that bill, that $10 billion that will make a total difference in the survival of so many producers throughout the state, so thank you for that. that certainly didn't go unnoticed by the ag world. i wanted to talk to you about catfish. mississippi is the top producing state of catfish. our farm-raised catfish is a huge contributor to our rural economy throughout the state. our neighbors in arkansas and alabama, they're right there with us. but unfortunately, the foreign catfish issues, the import,

primarily vietnam and china, that really hurt the industry, but my greatest concern was now that it is being inspected by usda food safety and inspection service, and it's charged with inspecting all those imported catfish. i've been very concerned about how that has been implemented. they're more rigorous than the food and drug administration inspection, but the inspection hasn't been at the top of the priority list for the last administration. and that made a big, huge difference, because there can be dangerous elements harmful to human consumption that was getting by and not inspected. so if confirmed, will you work to ensure that fsis tightens its imported catfish inspection responsibilities? mrs. rollins: yes, ma'am, i really look forward to all

aspects of the united states department of agriculture, but have heard from several of you that the inspection part of it could be significantly improved, and my commitment is to do everything i can to do just that. we are close to announcing an undersecretary, you should say the president is close to announcing an undersecretary in that role. i think everyone will be very pleased when that announcement is made and look forward to his quick confirmation and letting us get to work, senator. sen. hyde-smith: wonderful. i thought that for years, as ag commissioner in mississippi, and i also share your commitment, as you mentioned in your testimony, to addressing the h5n1 and the new worm outbreak as high consequence disease threatening animal agriculture. i've gotten several calls late on the that from producers that are very concerned about that. i can remember the avian influenza threat getting to

mississippi flocks. that kept me up at night. and i had plenty of water on standby that if we had the outbreak, we were ready. but i was also involved in reopening beef exports, markets, or the mad cow inspection, and those markets took over a decade to recover. when we had countries that did not buy our beef because of that for 13 years until we got that under control. but while much attention is given to the problem of the outbreak, i want to focus on the key solution that's often overlooked, and that is the importance of usda areas. and those are so critical, and despite the hiring freeze, those professionals are essential in protecting animal and public health anden suring food security because of the outbreaks. the vets are currently managing

the h5n1 outbreak by testing meat, milk, and helping producers are biosecurity practices. but unfortunately, usda has struggled for years with inadequate veterinarian staffing. and with the animal and plant health inspection made worse by compensation system that the previous secretary described as just uncompetitive, and the hearings in last congress, but i tried to work with the previous administration to begin correcting these serious recruitment and retention problems there, but those efforts were pretty much ignored as well. but it's just extremely frustrating to know how critical it is to make sure we have the safest, cheapest food in the entire world, and it takes inspections to do that. hopefully that will be better, and i'm going to ask for your commitment on that as it just

jeopardizes the american agriculture competitiveness by putting us at further risk for spreading disease. but the short apple of public health and agricultural, the situations we found ourselves in, because we just sit there and hope and pray that we don't get a call that there is an outbreak of anything. the usda office of personnel management must address these veterinary personnel challenges. my question is, will you commit to working with me toward a timely and meaningful solution, solutions, of course, that would be in line with the president's agenda toward this personnel for these veterinarians that we need at usda? mrs. rollins: i so look forward to doing that. i'm not sure if you've heard, but texas a&m has a heck of a good veterinary school. i'm very familiar with it. i especially on this look forward to that with you. i do think that the recruiting piece of this, and you and i working together, and i believe

senator klobuchar may be a co-chair with you on the veterinary committee here in the senate. but across the board, ensuring that your leadership and my supporting you if confirmed continues to be a priority and really look forward to that. sen. hyde-smith: one quick statement i want to work with you on as well once confirmed is to address the usda packers and stock yards rules concerning poultry. it has really caused some significant cost increase to our we will tree growers t. really doesn't have any quantifiable profits, so that's another thing that i would like to meet with you on, packers and stock yards, the law that we all live by. thank you so much, and i so look forward to supporting you. mrs. rollins: thank you, senator. sen. boozman: senator booker? sen. booker: thank you very much. i'm excited to be here and excited to have a few moments with you. thank you for coming by my office yesterday. i know i was the favorite office you visited, much more. mrs. rollins: you were the favorite. there were three favorites, and

you were one of the three. sen. booker: i'm glad to that. i know you liked my visit better than tommy tuberville. i'm going to jump on the moving mom bandwagon here when you told me about the work she did, the work on pfas. i hope it foreshadows some of the work we can do together. it's a real problem for american farmers, it's something that's really important to me. i mentioned to you when you were with me that one of the biggest problems we have in america is that the biggest producers in our country have done well. that's not a problem. i love and celebrate american success. but we're having a problem with the big, big producers, often controlled by multinational corporations who are doing great, but most of our small farmers in america really continue to struggle. since 2017, we've lost over 140,000 farms in our country. since the 1970's, over half a million farms have been lost in

this country. this loss of family farms has led to awful things happening in our rural communities, exodus of residents, jobs, really the hollowing out of rural communities. and for the farmers who have managed to hang on, times are really tough for american farmers. 8ly% of family -- 88% of family farmers have second jobs off the farm, and a majority of that income out lylesed by the families is generated from off-farm income. right now the usda programs are structured in ways that serve well the biggest producers, but often do not work for small and mid-sized family farms. so i'm pushing in the upcoming farm bill to create an office of small farms within the usda that would be charged with looking at usda programs and policies and finding ways to make them work for our small farmers. this is a crisis. we're losing our heritage. families that have had farms for five, six generation in america are really struggling. and this is just a yes or no

question, which i got in private and hoping to get in public. as secretary. will you make it a priority for the usda to do a lot more to help small farmers? mrs. rollins: one zillion percent question, which is aggie smith. but 100% yes, and senator, we discussed yesterday, for me personally, that is where my heart is and my passion is, restoring rural america and working together in all parts of our country. sen. booker: grateful for your answer, and remind you your mother is watching. mrs. rollins: yes, sir. sen. booker: all right. so as you know, we're also facing a global hunger crisis. millions of people are in desperate need of food. for the past several years, senator boozman and i have worked closely with the usda to increase and expedite the purchase of commodities such as rice and wheat from u.s. farmers for shipment to countries where people are really suffering famine-like conditions.

it's a win-win for us. the usda purchases to help our farmers, and at the same time we're able to provide life-saving food to children and families around the globe. i know that you and i share a deep faith, the motivation behind what we do in our work. and you believe that the gospel calls on us to help people in need. it's also a national security issue for americans, helping to stabilize other nations that are facing crises. my office is getting a lot of concern, concerning reports from farmers that humanitarian programs like food for peace may be paused by one of the recent executive orders. i'm really hoping that's not true. again, a yes or no question. once you're confirmed, will you check on the status of that and will you make food purchases for more farmers a priority? mrs. rollins: yes, sir, of course. sen. booker: fantastic. meat packers, most americans don't know this, they work in really horrifically dangerous

conditions. one of the most dangerous jobs in america. they're being forced to make repetitive motions every day, forceful once. the usda published recently a report showing that a current line speeds, 81% of chicken processing plant workers are at an elevated risk, significantly so, of developing debilitating upper body disorders and things like carpal tunnel syndrome. they also face a risk of serious injuries. on average, two worker amputations per week occur on slaughter lines in the united states of america. just imagine if that was your family member. even worse, meat packing giants like j.b.s. have admitted and been fined for child labor violations in their processing plants. the usda is currently one of the largest buyers from the big meat packers. i have a bill with senator john hallee, it is a bipartisan bill to stop federal contracting with companies with child labor violations. as secretary, yes or no, will

you commit to using the agency's purchasing power to force these companies to end these horrific abuses, child labor practices and bad treatment of workers? mrs. rollins: senator booker being i look forward to working wow that. i've not spent enough time to fully understand, to commit one way oar the other. but i absolutely look forward to working with you and learning more about this issue. sen. booker: senator hallee and i will talk about that more, and i'm going speed to my last question. ultraprocessed foods in school meals, we're facing a chris. you talked about it earlier. 38% of teenagers in america have prediabetes, among other often chronic diseases. we have a sickness epidemic in american children. we know if kids reach adulthood, they're a traject rim of sickness and suffering that will cost our healthcare system a lot and cost them as well. we know that 60% of children's calories, 60% currently come

from ultraprocessed foods. many have unhealthy levels of salt and added sugar. with our school male program, we have an opportunity to make sure kids get health sea, nutritious meals that empower them in school day and for their life. right now, kids are still getting too many calories in schools from ultraprocessed meals. if confirmed, will you commit to dealing with this crisis and really focus on improving children's nutrition by reducing the amount of ultraprocessed foods in our school meal program? mrs. rollins: the answer is yes, but i want to add to that. as i mentioned with chairman boozman, die think this is a crisis, and i do agree with you. i think before my friend r.f.k. jr., bobby kennedy, came on the scene, i believe that was in august and became part of the america first movement, that this particular issue, while really important, was not necessarily at the top of the america first agenda. at america first, we had people

working on it, but didn't expect it to be a priority in the organization. i'm encouraged it's now a priority. sen. booker: i am so grateful for that. my time is expired, but prop 12 coming out of california, packers and stock yard act, i know you will be open to us bringing you small family farmers who show it's opened up new opportunities for them and the, and stock yard act is protecting them, and they actually want to see better enforcement. so i know you're open to us having that conversation. mrs. rollins: i will look forward to that, thank you, senator. sen. marshall: welcome. do you agree that whole milk is the most nutrition drink known to humankind and belongs in our school lunches? mrs. rollins: [laughter] senator, i don't know that you have met my mom yet. but this is all we had in our refrigerator growing up. not anything else.

just whole milk. she is absolutely never going to let us forget this, the fact that this is coming up. but yes, this hits home to me very quickly. it brings back a lot of memories. sen. marshall: like many of us, you have a love, a passion for rural america, for agriculture. tell us where that comes from and why this job is important to american agriculture and rural america, just from your heart. mrs. rollins: senator, thank you. the fact that i'm sitting here today, that i am in the united states capitol, that i'm sitting in front of this committee, that i am serving at the appointment of the president of the united states as one of his potential cabinet members, but yet i grew up in a town of 1,200 with a single mom with two little sisters, went to texas a&m on an agriculture scholarship, because my love, but also we needed the money, that future farmers of america is the organization that set my path so many years ago. i am fighting for the next

brooke who is growing up in a little bitty town with a single mom that her weekends are spent on horses and raising cattle and barrel racing and friday night football, at least in the south, and making sure that those communities continue to raise and provide thriving and incredible opportunities for the next generation of leaders, so that this country can continue in the next 250 years to do what we've done in the last 250, and that is to create and govern under our founders' vision of the greatest country in the history of the world, and this work and this committee and this moment in time is the backbone to all of that. sen. marshall: reminds of the song, mostly having fun. i think that's what you're describing. it was mostly having -- it was a simpler time. you pointed out earlier, 90% of the rural america supported president trump in the election. over 90%. every time i see the president, the first thing he asks me is,

roger, how are your farmers and ranchers in kansas? can you share president trump's passion, compassion for farmers and ranchers? do you have similar conversations with him as well? mrs. rollins: yes, senator, one of the illuminating moments of my time with him in the last administration, and, assist you can imagine, an adventure beyond any imagination to be next to president trump for three years, and then to continue to work with him after he left the white house to build the america first policy institute and continue the policies for the next 100 years, not just for this moment in time. but i in the last west wing, i believe i'm speaking correctly, was the only person with an agriculture background. that wasn't widely known, because i was managing the entire portfolio, but any time in any senior staff meetings or any time we were in the oval office and these issues would

come up, he would always point to me and said, where are we on that? and it was so clear to me that that is where his heart is. i'll never forget a cabinet meeting where we were having a discussion about some big corporate entity who asked for a very large sum in the multibillions of dollars for a project, and that same week he had been asked for that project, he also visited some farmers in georgia. and i'll never forget, i was sitting behind him, because i was not part of the cabinet. i was part of the senior staff. i don't think the media was in there, but he looked at the entire cabinet and then turned and looked at us who were sitting behind him, and he said, i'm not here for those guys who are asking for billions of dollars for their new project and their market value is many, many billions more. i'm here for those farmers. i am here for those men and women that i met in georgia yesterday who are hurting, but

never complain, never miss a beat, never stop doing what they're called to do, which is to produce for the families across america and across the world. that is who i am here and we all, pointing to the cabinet and the and we all pointing to the cabinet and staff are here to serve. -- i think it was year two of the four. i had never forgotten it. when i got this job, we never talked about it again. >> obviously agriculture in america is important to you and the president. would you speak for a moment how important biofuels are to the farmers, ranchers who benefit from some of the substrates coming out of that process and to rule america as well? and how 45 z might impact rural america? >> i think everyone knows where the president is on this. he often jokes there's a lot of meetings i think a lot of you are in. senator grassley, i know you were in those in the last white

house making sure the president fully understood the importance of exactly what you're talking about on biofuels and our farmers. i believe in the last 48 hours, one of his executive orders on energy included a mention of biofuels. also my role if confirmed is to defend all of american agriculture. so i believe senator, you and others who hail from these states where this is a driver for your farmers and ranchers and economy, should feel very confident you have a friend and a defender in this current administration to make sure this continues. 45 z, if confirmed at treasury, my friend will be working on that. i will ensure he has the data, voices, and opinions around him to make the right decision. >> 45 zeek, certainly what we don't want is china to benefit from it. which is happening right now. by the way, i remember president trump's first primary in 2016 in

iowa, i believe he was the candidate who came out in favor of biofuels as well. >> that's right. >> let's finish up on the regulatory environment. not sure if anything is a bigger concern to the farmer than the regulatory environment. the hot button issues have been the u.s. and endangered species act us your involvement in rolling back that wotus regulation with the previous administration. i think that is a good example of what will be happening. >> i appreciate that so much. i have extensive experience in many of these regulatory programs. in the last administration, we worked to roll back but aligned better for the needs of our ag communities and make sure the u.s. did not put more farmers out of business. same with the endangered species act. that is a big issue in our forestry lane. i encourage and look forward in

my policy heart is very happy at the opportunity to make those better, to understand the harm and follow the data on it and work with all of you to try and solve for that in the next four years. >> senator schiff. >> thank you, mr. chairman at the outset, i want to tell you how grateful i am to serve on this committee. california has not had a senator on the agriculture committee for over 30 years. as a leading agriculture state, i'm really proud of the industry and all of the people who work in it and grateful to have a chance to represent them on this committee. senator marshall, i wanted to tell you a california legislator once made a name for himself by drinking a beaker of malathion to demonstrate his view that it is safe. i will not be doing that today. thank you for being here today. when we met earlier this month

to discuss your nomination, firefighters in southern california had just begun efforts to contain two blazes. as we know now, it was only the beginning of what would ultimately amount to one of the most devastating wildfire disasters in the state's history, if not the nation's history. over the last 2.5 weeks in l.a., it has been difficult to put into words how truly catastrophic these fires have been. just the scope of them is beyond anything i would have ever imagined. whole neighborhoods and communities wiped out. the forest service has been playing an amazing role in the emergency response efforts, working hand-in-hand with state and local partners to secure resources and personnel, to aid california's wildfire response this month, the for service deployed 2300 federal firefighters, 12 large air tankers, 20 helicopters, six

scooper's, and eight modular airborne firefighting aircraft. without these federal resources, the devastation would have been far worse. and we are not done with it yet. we had the outbreak of another fire yesterday. if confirmed as secretary, are you committed to deploying the same emergency resources to fight wildfires in blue states that would be deployed to fight wildfires in red states? can we count on you not to discriminate among states and the vigor of the federal response? >> senator, thank you. obviously, it bears saying since you asked, 100% yes. to watch the devastation in your beautiful state has been heartbreaking for all of us. no matter red states or blue states. i think if there is any good that comes from this, if i'm confirmed, we can figure out how to be an even better more impactful resource the next time

this happens. and hopefully be able to work more quickly with those on the ground across blue states and red states. >> thank you, i very much appreciate that. wildland firefighters have put their lives on the lined -- on the line to protect my communities back home. and we need to make sure that we continue to encourage people to become wildland firefighters, and that their compensation is commensurate with the critical and dangerous work that they do. i was speaking with one firefighter who i think was in l.a. fire department firefighter, not a wildland firefighter, but facing the same risks. he told me he was not sure he was going to make it out alive. that there were fires in front of him and behind him.

his communications equipment was in and out, water was running low. he said it was the closest thing to hell he could imagine. the key i think recruiting and retaining people to do that vital and dangerous work, including allowing -- long-overdue pay raise for federal firefighters. the raise is set to expire in march for this means our federal firefighters could once again be paid as low as $15 an hour to risk their lives to keep our communities safe. if confirmed as secretary, are you committed to fighting to extend so we can recruit and retain these wildland firefighters? >> thank you, senator schiff and the tens of thousands of firefighters at the forest service, usda in our peak seasons, think we have close to 1000 on the ground in your home state. i'm 100% behind ensuring that we

have the best firefighters, the best workforce we can possibly have to fight these fires. i need to learn more about exactly what it is you are speaking about before a full commitment. but i will commit to this. in all my time with president trump, the eight years i have been beside him and serving in his administration and answering the call, that he believes those who are putting their lives on the line every single day deserve the honor, respect, and the pay that goes along with those jobs. i look forward to ensuring that is happening in the most appropriate way. >> i appreciate that. let me turn to a different topic. during the president's first term, usda had to allocate tens of billions of dollars to offset the financial impact of the tariffs and the reciprocal tariffs countries impose on our agriculture and our farmers.

that financial assistance offered to farmers impacted by the trade war was not equally distributed. despite california's leading role in u.s. agriculture and the heavy™ -- tariffs imposed on crop exports, growers receive less than their fair share under the 2019 market facilitation program. out of hundreds of specialty crops grown in the u.s., only eight crops received direct assistance. in the end, approximately 1% of the nearly $15 billion in usda allocated resources went to california specialty crop growers. about 1%. we are the leading state when it comes to specialty crops. if confirmed, are you committed to disturb eating all economic assistance, including trade relief, to states without regard to their political leanings? >> i'm committed to that. centrist watkin and us described the specialty crops in michigan.

i look forward to, i'm not familiar with the data you laid out. i look forward to learning about it and being committed to ensuring to the very best of our ability this is appropriately adjudicated. >> i appreciate it. looking forward to make sure that relief if it should be necessary is distributed equitably. thank you, mr. chairman i yield back. >> senator tuberville. -- >> coach. >> who would have ever known 30 years ago, i'm a young coach at texas a&m and your student body president. >> that is true. and we sat next to each other in a lot of meetings. >> and look where we are now. >> amazing world. >> congratulations. you will be awesome. but i don't want to sugarcoat this because my farmers back home are hurting. we are in trouble.

small farmers are selling right and left. i have a bill on the floor. i dropped it yesterday, about keeping foreign adversaries from buying our farmland. we are selling it right and left. i don't blame them because they can make a profit. croppers in alabama are really getting killed. cotton farmers of the input cost was about $400 an acre. they may have gotten $100 an acre out of their crop last year. that is where we had to do a supplement to before christmas. my phone is ringing off the wall. we have to help our farmers but they hate handouts. because they want to do their own work. i'm glad you understand that, being from texas. it is a dire problem. and it will not get fixed overnight. i'm looking forward to see who your team will be around you. it is discouraging to know you walk into the office building you will have three or 4000 employees, and you can shoot a

gun and not hit anybody. there is nobody there. nobody has been working in the office for four years. it is embarrassing. it is absolutely embarrassing. our farmers need help and we have no one working at the office. so we have to get input costs down. that is not your job. 6, 7 years ago, a contractor cost $750,000. today it is $1.5 million. fertilizer has gone skyhigh after the ukraine war. it is embarrassing where we've gotten. there's a $45 billion trade deficit in agriculture. the only way we can get commodity prices back up is handle the trade deficit. that being said, we need dialogue. if confirmed, will you commit on doing dialogue with president trump and the people around agriculture to get farmers an opportunity to have a better price for their crop? >> yes i

will, senator. i look forward to that. one of the things i read recently, only 40% of ad producers are net positive, net income positive. that is unsustainable. we have to find a better way. and it can come always through government subsidies. we've got to expand the market, figure out input costs. one of president trump's top parties was food inflation. this comes before food inflation because it will drive the cost of food down if we do our jobs and we are able to produce for our agriculture community i believe we can working together. >> what we don't want to happen is what has happened in our drug industry. with covid, we look around going how do we keep people healthy and all of the drugs are made in china. we will end up in the same situation if we don't wake up and smell the roses. it will happen. people are selling right and left. you cannot blame them. our small farms will end up

being corporations like packinghouses. we have three companies that are meatpackers. one is owned by china. we are headed in the direction of unknown. it will take leadership from your office to get that back on the right track. our force industry in my state, $36 billion a year. with the usda forest service under your purview, what priorities you have for the health of our forests across the country? not just alabama. but we have to continue to make sure we have healthy wood. it is something we are very proud of. >> i know that is important to alabama and many other states represented here and across the u.s. senate. my commitment is to hire an na+ team. we've announced undersecretary mike boren for this position. have great faith in his leadership. he is a good businessman. i think bringing to the table hopefully with a quick

confirmation process, he will bring to the table a team that will take great firefighters in the forest service and hopefully realign and reorganize in a way that makes the forest service, including service management, more productive, more efficient, more effective so we don't have the issues we've had the the last number of years. especially for great producers in your states and other states. >> keyword, forest management. we have to manage our forests the right way. american people across the country that are not in this business should not have to pay for the mistakes we make. we are broke, $36 trillion in debt. it is getting worse. we are printing $80,000 a second. we cannot sustain that. disaster relief. if we had problems with tornadoes or floods in my state, it takes at least three years at

times to get any kind of disaster relief. farmers borrow money from banks for a crop and those bankers look around going where is our money. we are waiting for disaster relief. the bankers or farmers should not have to deal with that. has to be a better plan at the end of the day. i'm throwing all of your problems out to you. you probably don't want to hear that. but we have a lot of problems that need to be fixed. >> coach, i believe you had a conversation with the commander-in-chief. the fact it has taken three years to get relief will be an acceptable to him, and acceptable to me. i look forward to ensuring we do much better than that. thank you. >> senator welch. >> thank you very much. i don't want the coach to be

upset. when he asked the question how did you both get here, i kind of get it how you got here. i'm trying to figure out about the coach. [laughter] but you did another thing that is astonishing. senator cruz give you a very nice introduction. i did not know something he's kept on the down low. he has a sense of humor. [laughter] this is a pretty astonishing hearing. >> it is a new day. >> and thank you to your visit to my office and enthusiasm about rural america. i'm delighted to be working with our new ranking member and new chair to strengthen rural america. the point of view held by members of this committee that rural america really is about the great values and strength of america. strength, family, community.

rural america has been under brutal pressure. i think every single one of us wants to do every thing we can to strengthen it. because a strong rural america is a strong america. we have been really blessed in vermont with a very responsive department of agriculture. the rural development organization helps us to the floods of july 23 and july 24. it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. i want to make certain some of the things that have been helpful to us, we can have some confidence, will continue should you be the new secretary of agriculture. number one. under the previous administration, $40 million went to vermont for energy efficiency programs. we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it is real or not. but agriculture and our farmers

can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. without having the climate change discussion, i want to make certain i can have some confidence our farmers who are adopting regenerative agriculture practices, organic agriculture, doing things by all estimations that make for good healthy crops but reduce carbon emissions, that we will continue to make that possible and they will get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to bear the burden? >> thank you. love visiting with you and excited to come to vermont if invited. i loved our conversation. we talked about the workforce at usda, those you have interacted with and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job they did meant a

lot to me. i look forward to learning more and meeting them if confirmed. i think it is important to recognize i will always have an open dialogue with all of you. i think i gave all of you my cell phone. >> you did. i just want to go through a few things. another issue is labor on the firm. we cannot milk our cows. without immigrant labor. and i'm for a secure border. i think all of us here are. but i'm also for legal immigration. that is a challenge for our dairy farmers. i want to make sure whatever we do to secure the border does not deprive our hard-working dairy farms and farmers access to the labor they absolutely depend on. >> senator, thank you. i appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. you are not the only one on this side of the room that made the point that is really important. i know there was great concern

among the agriculture committee under what it will look like under president trump. understanding the data and the impact of those in the agriculture committee dairy farms, those are concerned. but everybody is. ensuring we are working with the nominee who is from oregon. wax we will work together on that? and you appreciate the importance of having access to that labor for dairy farms and others? >> i know these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. if there is no one there to milk them, big trouble. >> another thing, a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. a lot of our small farmers, vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. the insurance program for some vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale, or reimbursed wholesale and when they sell at farmers markets at retail.

also they would have incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they have, how many beats they had. i've introduced the weather act as an effort to streamline the reporting requirements. i'm not going to ask you for the details. but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, which is a challenge and obligation we have, but the smaller farmers that are the future. can i count on working with you on that? >> the word streamline is my love language. we will absolutely work together on that. we spent a lot of time talking about restoring rural america and how important it is to the next 250 years of our country. that will happen because of our small family farms and rural ranchers. >> for young farmers, it is so hard for a young person to get into farming because they cannot get the farmland.

there's a lot of concerns expressed about chinese possibly buying up. but private equity is buying it up. i want farmers to buy a farmland. is it of concern to you? i know having access to farmland for young farmers is. china may be a threat. but private equity is a threat. >> the average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. if we really think we will have a sustainable, thriving agriculture community in 20 or 30 years after we have gone to meet our maker, we have to reverse that trend. >> the last topic, rural broadband has made such a big difference for rural vermont and farm communities. your department has played a major role in facilitating that. we have to continue that in get the last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access

to the internet. >> 100% agree. >> thank you very much. >> senator justice. >> first and foremost. to all of those on this committee. thank you for allowing me to be on the committee. i think leader thune and anybody who was responsible for me being here. i'm a plainspoken individual. i'm hung up all the time on the truth. and i will promise you with all in me that i know a tremendous amount about agriculture. i think about -- and i can call you miss rawlins, i can call you secretary. i have asked you over and over to call me jim.

but i would tell you this. although it is going to fall in your empire is astronomical. that is all there is to it. i'm amazed with president trump's nominees, and that is all there is to it, they are qualified. they are absolutely experienced. they absolutely have what brooke has. she is stuck on on. anyone who cannot see that is absolutely not looking. she approaches it with positiveness and a big smile. so all of you that cane, especially all of her family. i'm not amazed in any way. i know she is infectious around every last one of you. and absolutely you will be a tremendous secretary. that is all there is to it. let me deviate just a little bit. this is my view.

the american family farm has got to be protected like none other. today, right now. what we have is the average size of the american family farm, 450 plus or minus acres. you just think about it. what are they doing right now? maybe in wyoming, it may very well be 30 below zero. and they are out on a smoke -- snowmobile or a horse trying to feed their cattle. and maybe if they were a dairy man or lady, wherever it may be, there is never a day off. the cows have to be milked. there is never a day off. whether it be may be that little farm sitting trying to figure out how in the world with

fertilizer prices or whatever it may be, how we can make ends come out, or ends work. they are probably driving the 12-year-old pickup truck, trying every way they can, and every year it is a texas hold 'em game where they shove everything all in. all that being said, think about it. what happens if we lose our american small farm? where do we go? corporate interests are on and on. they are a productive engine like you cannot imagine. you can never imagine their productivity. they are a treasure to every single last one of us. and we best better protect them and keep them on that farm. they can cash out today with their land most all, and have a

lifestyle that is so much better than their earnings every single year. and why do they do it? they do it because of one thing. they love what they do. they are the best of the best and they love what they do. and we've got to keep them there and protect them in every single way. i know it in my heart. and i believe it with all my soul. if you will just step back and look, the grocery store is a mile long. food beyond belief. i know we've had an increase in food prices and we need to do something about that if we possibly can. but with all that we enjoy, we enjoy a luxury that is off the chart. what we throw away, many around the world would beg to have what we throw away.

it is a luxury beyond belief. in that small farm i'm talking about provides us that luxury. i really only have one question for you. and i don't have enough time to go into the specifics. but a value added standpoint if i can deviate a second to forestry. i look forward to telling you about this. because i have a plan that could help bring our furniture manufacturing, cabinetry, flooring manufacturing back from it being in china, vietnam, mexico, where we lost it all for practical purposes, back to us. but i want to hear that you are supportive of value-added products. because it is so important to getting our manufacturing at

home. and what president trump absolutely believe and wants more than anything. again, i'm all in with your nomination. 1000%. you will do an amazing job. no question about it. but please comment on the value-added please. >> there is no excuse why everything in american agriculture and america in general, is not the best of the world, that everything we work on his not the most excellent approach, and that we continue to build, feed, and thrive and preserve the american heritage of the greatest farmers in the world. >> i'm telling you. and everybody should pay close attention. she is a superstar. we need her. maybe it is premature, but congratulations. >> as long as i have babydog

support. >> you have babydog with you every single day. >> i appreciate that. thank you. >> babydog was the difference in you getting on the committee or not. [laughter] >> babydog trumps me every single day. >> senator warnock. >> i don't know how to follow that. welcome to the committee. thank you sir. thank you chair boozman. i want to take a moment to congratulate you and ranking member klobuchar on your appointments to lead this committee. i look forward to working with both of you. met with each of you and i have enjoyed our relationship and the work we tried in the work we have done. good morning. welcome to you and also your family and all those here to support you. congratulations on your nomination. i enjoyed meeting with you last month to discuss your nomination

and plans for usda. this morning i would like to follow-up on the issues, many of which we have discussed. first, it has come to my attention that a recent executive order has led to the potential termination of usda's liaisons to our 1890 land grant institutions, institutions like fort malik state university and fort valley georgia. strong bipartisan support for these institutions. they've done an incredible job, often doing so much for so many with so very little for such a long time that it is lost on people the work of these institutions every day. i'm concerned about this and the actions to shut out their voices at usda. if you will confirm, would you commit to supporting the 1890 institutions? >> i believe prairie view a and

m is one of those 1890 institutions, which i'm very familiar with and partnered as a student at texas a&m. i'm not familiar with exactly what you are speaking of. my commitment is to find out and continue a very important discussion and learn more about the issue. >> the executive order could lead to the potential termination of usda's liz 8 -- liaisons to the 1890 institutions, which help navigate the relationship with the usda. and i have your commitment to protect those who serve these institutions? >> again, i would want to know more and understand more before i can make the commitment. clearly those institutions are important, bipartisan supported, and you have my commitment to have a robust dialogue at any moment, any time of day or night to ensure we have the data as we are making any decisions. >> i appreciate that.

good relationships and good work, bipartisan work supporting these institutions. i hope you can keep your eye on that issue. last year, i worked hard with my colleagues in a bipartisan manner to provide 21 billion dollars to help farmers recover from natural disasters like hurricane helene. farmers do incredible work, it is a tough business, so much you don't control, the margins are narrow. i do everything i can to protect my growers in georgia. i can't overstate how critical it is for usda to distribute this disaster assistance to georgia farmers as quickly and equitably as possible. if confirmed, briefly because i want to get through the questions, how would you were to ensure disaster assistance is just rated swiftly adequately? >> thank you.

i will answer quickly to go on. the day i got the call from president trump was saturday, november 23rd. we were in our motorhome traveling around the country. in a few hours of accepting the nomination, i began to pivot two how do we distribute this disaster >> so important economic aid, clearly i'm not confirmed yet, so they will wait my arrival. in the meantime, we've announced the under secretary who worked on this in the last trump administration building the team who distributes these funds. they know what they're doing, we are not reinventing the wheel. >> will you work with the state agriculture commissioner to ensure georgia producers, including our foresters, have the support they need from usda to make that assistance without having to jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops? >> of course. x and will you commit to getting that assistance to all eligible farmers, including those who

have been historically left out of the usda assistance often due to discrimination? >> we will follow the law and ensure that is the case. yes. >> let me move onto to the next subject. fighting hunger has long been a part of my life work. long before i was elected to the senate. as you know, i'm a pastor. the one miracle story in all of the gospels is the feeding of the 5000. i constantly hear from georgia families about how their dollar just does not go as far at the grocery store as it used to. the average georgian participating on snapped, the food assistance program that provides critical nutrition aid to our most vulnerable families, has about 6000 $.15 a day to spend on food. it is 615 a day adequate to avoid hunger for georgia

families? >> this is a supplement to program. i'm just getting my arms around. there are few that will be in my role if confirmed that have a passion for this more than i do. serving those most in need as we discussed in your office, is a driving force of my entire life. it almost at me to seminary, but i ended up in public policy. so you have my wholehearted commitment to look and ensure that the people who need this the most are receiving it in the best way possible. at the same time ensuring all of the tax dollars spent on it are also spent in the best way possible. >> as these families struggle, one of the things i'm concerned about our proposed slashing of critical assistance in creating additional work verification red for families participating in these programs. do you think creating more bureaucratic red tape for families will help them purchase nutritious food? >> it is important we take a wholesale look at every one of

these programs and ensure that they are serving the people that need the programs and they are the safety net that truly set out to be. i do not like the words bureaucracy or redtape. but ensuring we set up the appropriate structure to get the resources to the families that need the most. >> we talk about work requirements, i was raised by a father and a mother who had a serious work ethic. we want to help these families have a basic safety net. most poor people are children. i think it is important to remember that. seniors, veterans, folks with his abilities. it has proven to reduce health care costs and stimulate our local economies. if you are confirmed, i hope we find ways to work together to ensure our most vulnerable families and neighbors can

afford groceries. as someone who preaches the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, it is the right thing to do. i also think it is the smart thing to do. >> you have my commitment. my friend dr. lb to king's here. we have spoken to that multiples of times. >> i am her family's pastor. >> i'm very well aware. thank you. >> senator grassley. >> congratulations. like other senators, i think he will do a good job. i want to start out by think you -- thanking you during the trump administration. working with us on the first step act. you are actively involved in a lot of those negotiations between democrats and republicans on the hill here. as well as between us and the first trump administration.

you worked hard. i noticed after you took those, the first question you got was are you going to answer our letters? we member what i told you in my office. as i tell every confirmed person coming to my office, you ought to say maybe. i pointed out to you how i had 158 letters to the justice department that are still unanswered. they said yes, but turned out to be liars. that is true, republican and democrat administration generally. since you said i do, i hope you tell your colleagues in the cabinet the same thing, or they will be liars. >> yes sir. i hear you loud and clear. i have to believe we will be able to answer your letters to the best of my ability. >> at least one other person, my colleague has brought up the importance of whistleblowers,

information she got from them. i'm not sure i want to ask you a question. i just want to tell you what is on my mind. you have tens of thousands working under you. you can't know what they do. and you ought to listen to whistleblowers. it is not you, yourself listening, it is you establishing a culture within your agency that middle-management will listen to whistleblowers, because they don't have to come and bother me. i have 38 investigations going. most have come from whistleblower information about fraud or misspending of money and all of that. listen to whistleblowers, will you? >> you have my 100% commitment. i really look forward to that. >> the next thing is the legal

term actively engaged in farming is not enforced. we have too many people on wall street getting farm payments that should not be getting them. i want to make sure all of this manipulation that has gone on in the department of agriculture under republicans and democrats to look the term actively engaged. i'm being facetious when i say this. but you ought to at least have dirt under your fingernails if you get payments from the taxpayers from your farming operation. so i expect actively engaged to be fully enforced by you and however it has been diluted, you ought to take a look at it and make sure it is stiffer than what it otherwise was. and when we get into the

negotiations on a five year farm bill. i don't expect you to answer this now. but there can be tremendous savings to the taxpayers. you can even discuss it with mr. musk and people at omb. if you can put a cap on what one farmer can get from the farm bill program so we are not subsidizing them to get bigger. and i have nothing wrong with the marketplace working for people getting as big as they want to get. but we should not be subsidizing. the whole point of an ever cultural five year farm bill safety net is to protect people that are medium and small sized farmers that can control what happens. whether it is a natural disaster or a green embargo or a war.

big farmers can handle that. but small farmers cannot. that seems to me for the same reason we put out disaster relief for farmers in the bill that just passed before christmas. andy will administer there is the same reason we have the safety net for farmers on prices and things beyond their control. i try every farm bill to get this done. the most successful farm bill i had, and i hope i'm successful, was 2015 when i got a cap put on in the house and senate in exactly the same language. and it should not have been diluted at all or changed at all . because those are the rules. but the congressman from texas, i don't know his name, chairman of the ad committee at that

time. he did not like it and he diluted it till it was practically meaningless at this point. so if you want to save some taxpayers money, look at that issue when i bring it up again. another thing is we had the first trump administration, a couple times in the biden administration, use money from the commodity credit corporation that i don't think should have been used. in the power of the purse rests with congress under article one of the constitution. and money can't be spent without authority of congress. and billions have been wasted that way. and i hope you don't get

involved in wasting those dollars. i will end with a package of stockyards act. i think it is stronger than anything the justice department can do under antitrust laws to protect the welfare of the farmer to make sure the marketplace is working. and thank god vilsack before he left office put out some regulations that will help enforce powers package the stockyard act. particularly to protect livestock producers in highly concentrated areas of agriculture or the poultry grower payment system, the capital improvement payment system. the american farm bureau federation has spoken positively about these issues. i think there were some more on the books you can take a look at

that he did not get around to putting out because maybe they are a little more controversial. but the package of stockyards act is the most effective tool to make sure the marketplace works for the american farmer. thank you. >> i'm looking forward to working with you and continuing to move forward. especially focusing on our small family farms and rural america. >> congratulations, mr. chairman. i'm honored to be here as the successor of debbie stabenow, our esteemed former chairman. the queen of michigan agriculture. we miss her and i have big shoes to fill. thank you for our conversation in my office. i appreciate your positive approach to meeting with everybody. i have the honor to live on my family farm, which used to be beef cattle, now soy and corn alternatively. i'm also a former c.i.a.

officer, pentagon official. i come to the ad committee with a sense food security is national security and the u.s. should always be able to feed itself by itself. everything flows from there. if people agree, a lot of policies become clear. the sale of our land to foreign government, or private equity. that is the approach i take. i'm also from michigan. we are not kansas or iowa. we are specialty crops. we have the second-most diverse agricultural sector in the country after california. and we take pride in not doing mono cropping or fruits and vegetables and a lot of other things. this is why i'm particularly concerned about the™ -- concerned about the tariffs. mr. trump is throwing them around p i want to review the bidding between your agency that we are all on the same page of what happened the last time president trump put on tariffs.

what happened specifically to our farmers? president trump announced 25% tariffs on chinese products, batteries, tv, medical devices. i understand the instinct. i want to push back on china. china retaliated and put 25% on soybeans, fruits, pork, and some other items. then we got into a trade war and started adding more things to the list. they added more things to the list. it went on and back and forth. suddenly farmers around the country are screaming bloody murder because the markets used to have access to, no one wanted to buy our stuff because it had a 25% tariff. we felt that very acutely. so what did we do? because we felt under the trump administration, people rightfully felt like our farmers were getting the shaft, they rated the ccc account, the emergency rainy day account you

will have control over, for $23 billion to give subsidies to our farmers. so he put on the tariff, got into a trade war, ended up our farmers were in trouble, we paid them off. everyone here said no farmer wants a subsidy, they want to work. they want to get paid a fair rate for their crop. that emergency fund is the same fund that helps us with things like avian flu that we are dealing with over the country. you can imagine as a michigander the throwing around of tariffs, particularly with canada, mexico, other places, i'm trepidation as it will come back to our farmers. and when you get confirmed, and it looks like you will, you will swear to the constitution of the u.s., not president trump. i know you have said it hurried but for the michiganders watching, that you will throw your body in front of the bus to make sure any political talking point on tariffs that may sound

good is truly tested against how it will impact our farmers, like it was not last time around? >> senator, i appreciate and share your passion. i think we are similar in a lot of ways. my commitment is there will be no sleeping, that we will work around the clock to ensure our agriculture committees are represented in those discussions and at the table. i will do everything in my power to elevate, preserve, honor, conserve the backbone of america. >> i just want to know you have a good relationship with president trump, and that is a value add. so use it to help our farmers, not just a political talking point. most of us want to punch back on china. but it has to fit reality and not end up boomerang on us like last time. next is avian flu.

michigan has been dealing with this. a lot of states around the country are dealing with it. human beings getting ill, one passed away. we now see it in household pets that are eating birds that have it, that kind of thing. i think michigan has gotten decently high marks for handling it well. because we have cooperated with the federal government. but there's a lot of folks around the country that are not so friendly with the federal government. you will be the federal government. having to put some muscle behind some of our rules so we don't see the spread. right now, you cannot get a dozen eggs where than i live for less than $4.69 a dozen. used to be two dollars. tell me what you are going to do in the federal government role you are about to take to make

sure we stem the spread of avian flu, even states and farmers who are not so friendly with the federal government? >> thank you senator. i remember our conversation. it is a top priority. it was one of my top four priorities on day one. putting the right team in place to ensure what you discussed is happening. i do believe with my depth of experience with working at all levels of government, specifically the state level. i have been working closely -- i believe mostly republican, all republican. but all of the ag commissioners i'm in contact with. there is no doubt the all of government approach, working with the stakeholder community and officials will be important. to your point about food security, that remains paramount for all of us. >> i will echo some of senator warnock's comments.

we have seen in versions of the farm bill created in the past year in the house and senate that snap is usually the bill pair for at least part of it. cuts to snap and additional subsidies for some of our farmers. particularly down south. i understand that is popular. i would just ask you again to look into your heart. if the majority of poor people are children, that is not a work requirement that they can meet. please remember the children and be thoughtful about our approach on snap not just a political talking point. >> i will, senator. thank you. >> senator fischer. >> thank you senator boozman. congratulations on the gavel. look forward to working with you and the ranking member. miss rawlins, good to see you. i appreciated you coming to the office last month.

a great discussion we have. the agriculture industry is the economic engine of nebraska. we grow a lot of corn and beans and wheat and sugar beets, livestock. and so we stand the necessity of having the strong economy for our state, food security, how important it is for our country. and i look forward to working with you in the future on that. you noted in your testimony we must demand strong and steady markets. and this is a statement that i hear consistently from our producers as well. one of the really important markets for nebraska's agriculture is biofuels. his day one actions, president trump emphasized the need for our country to be energy dominant. the president has long

recognized ag producers have a role to play in producing abundant, homegrown energy. he took steps in his executive order declaring a national energy emergency so we could continue to allow for the sale of e 15 year round. i have long led an effort to make this policy permanent read i look forward to working with my colleagues to deliver on that part of the president's agenda. we know there's going to be a number of other biofuel decisions that will be made in the coming months that will have significant impacts on the biofuel market. i know you heard from a number of my colleagues on this committee about the importance of that. speak briefly about how you view the importance of biofuel markets for our farmers. >> i will. senator, thank you.

loved being in your office and meeting fred fisher. looking forward to having more conversations in your office and in your home state of nebraska, one of the shining stars of our country. in the last few months since the announcement was made, hopefully joining this administration and the cabinet as head of usda, i've had multiple conversations with many of you on the committee and outside the committee, your governor flew to texas to give me a couple of hours of his time to make sure i understood specifically in your state, but how this affects so much of the midwest and our corn states. my commitment is to defend and protect to fight for all of american agriculture. in the last administration, this was under the economic council, larry kudlow. i did not manage it under the domestic counsel. a lot of the meetings, which there were a lot of meetings, in the oval office about this. his executive order in the last few days mentioning biofuels is

part of his all of the above strategy to reclaim energy dominance across the world. >> president trump was very generous with his time in his previous time in the oval office. and he's correct. we had a lot of meetings in the oval office. >> i think he said 27. >> he would like to get this issue settled. i thought maybe we would last. but we will continue to push for that. what we see over the last four years and what i've heard, a lot of disappointment from nebraskans about the lack of any kind of trade agenda from the biden administration. in fact, for the first time in decades, we've had an agricultural trade deficit. as you said earlier, it is projected to hit a record-breaking $45 billion. i understand there can be a

variety of factors that impact the trade deficit. but i'm concerned part of this stems from their being really any kind of clear agricultural trade agenda from the last administration. we cannot see that happening again. talk about how you would both hold our current trading partners accountable and the role that you would want to see usda play in developing these new export markets? >> the $45 billion was remarkable. 42% of that in the last year. the wheels are falling off and it is very important the wheels get put back on as soon as possible. i think for those of you who know me for a long time, we have just gotten to know each other in the recent months, i am a relentless cheerleader for

whatever it is i have been called to do. and for this moment in my life, and to meet this moment, i'm called to take agriculture to serve our world -- rural communities and work around the clock to ensure that sort of trade deficit begins to peel back. hopefully by the end of our time here in the next four years it is completely gone and we are back in the positive. i think we can do that. president trump is the consummate dealmaker. his heart for rural america our farmers and ranchers will hopefully lead the way. as we move forward on this and i think and hope and pray that we can begin to solve this immediately. sen. moran: another area i focused on was how precision bag technology can help our farmers and ranchers to achieve better yields and reduce environmental impact, improve economic returns. i have had a number of bills on

that but i'm going to be reintroducing and including, hopefully in the farm bill that we work on. additionally myself and really the entire nebraska delegation along with the university of nebraska at lincoln have been working in a very close partnership with the agri-search service -- bag research service -- ag research service. last may we broke ground on that facility and i hope i can continue to work with you to make sure we get that facility completed. can i get your commitment to continue working with me on this facility? can i get your commitment to come to nebraska? we had sonny perdue out at the ranch and had a great barbecue with neighbors. we can do that and we can get you to lincoln and see the ars facility, what we are doing there. mrs. rollins: that would be my great honor.

thank you, senator. >> representative, welcome to the committee. i know that most folks have been recognizing you, but we just want to say welcome. i look forward to working with you in whatever capacity we can. my late father served in the new mexico legislature and appreciated some of those good projects he had with some of the new families, the extended families of members from texas to i got to know as a young person. this is rollins, think you for being here. i appreciate the conversation we had in the office as well. one of the areas i shared in our conversation is something that i hold deeply as i expressed to you, which is that every american should be able to have food on their table. no one should go hungry in america, no matter what the code or area code they live in. no matter how much money they

make. i appreciate my colleagues raising issues in some of these areas with nutritional programs, and even the important role of the secretary of agriculture plays in administering federal nutrition programs i would like to better understand your vision for them. i made it a point to go through the american first policy institute's documents, but i did was not able to find anything i could digest -- that is probably the wrong word to use -- [laughter] mrs. rollins: no pun intended. sen. lujan: to addressing hunger in america. do you agree in america -- let me ask it this way. do you believe an america that is truly great, that our children don't go hungry? mrs. rollins: yes. sen. lujan: updates to the thrifty food plan in 2021, a program that you would have a lot of say over, lifted about 2.4 million snap participants, including one million children

out of poverty. that is good. it's not great yet, because we have not done it all, but it is a good start. yes or no, will you commit to opposing any cuts to snap that would prevent americans, including millions of children, from putting food on their table? mrs. rollins: senator, probably not surprising to you, i cannot commit to that. obviously it is upmost importance to me, and you and i discussed this, that it is not just hunger, it is nutrition as well for so many of our children that don't have access to those programs. they also know i have a duty to the taxpayer, who is funding in significant numbers those programs. i sincerely believe that working together and working with other members of this committee it is important to chairman bozeman as well that we can find a solution that may or may not end up in cuts. i don't know. that is something i need to spend more time on, research the data, meet with more people.

i cannot make that commitment to you today, but i can make the commitment to your for a lot of time, a lot of thought, a lot of conversation as we moved down that road. sen. lujan: i appreciate that. i am reminded that budgets are a reflection of values. attending on how those budgets are put forth as well. i certainly hope in america we all have a responsibility, a fiscal responsibility that our priorities would say, children should not go hungry in america. and i hope that is something we can find some commonality on down the road. i want to drill into something more specific, which is a program called wic. it is one of those acronym programs you talked about that are over at the department of agriculture. for decades republicans and democrats have supported full funding for this program. meaning that no eligible mother or child who applies for the program is turned away. in your capacity as secretary is

this a program we can count on your support with? mrs. rollins: i believe that is one of the 16 nutrition programs across the department of agriculture purview i have not spent as much time as i hoped to in the coming days and weeks once confirmed to really dig into that. but clearly my heart, this administration, i believe speaking for the full administration, clearly america is the place where everyone should have the opportunity to be in part of a safety net when needed, and wic is an important part of that safety net. sen. lujan: i appreciate that response very much. specialty crops. everyone brags on whose is best. [laughter] we have it. mrs. rollins: it's new mexico. [laughter] sen. lujan: i share the concern many have shared appeared today around small farms. 53% of mexico, 53 acres or less. -- 50 acres or less. the one i am on is under five.

i'm concerned with what has been happening with small farms across america, whether it is water rights being gobbled up and taken off for something else, away from agricultural water rights, or who is buying them or what they are turning into. one of the reasons i introduced a piece of legislation with senator moran, that farmer to farmer education act. i will never forget a conversation i had with a grower back home where i was asked about usda programs years back and he said, well, we don't do so well qualifying for those programs and all the wet -- all the rest. they said, you doing ok, you doing better than most. he said, how? he said, i had to learn how to farm usda. maybe that works for some, but not all. i agree with everyone that talks about the red tape that exists for some of these programs. we have to find a better way. these are people spending time growing food. they should not be stuck behind a desk trying to figure out what document, you know, needs to go

here, what document needs to go there. i appreciate your commitment in that particular area in your commitment to work with small farms. the other area i raised in our meeting, and i just got off the phone with someone, so i apologize for excusing myself. the canyon fire. this is a fire that started a few years ago that became the largest fire in the state of new mexico's history. what surprises a lot of folks -- and i appreciate my colleagues here for supporting me and helping to create a fund for this fire. this fire started as a prescribed burn. my brother actually called into -- in to try to burn our ditches and things around our house, and you have to call the local fire department is the way our department works. and you say, can i burn today? they will tell you, no burning today. he got a note burn the day they started this burn. got out of control.

so then i got told by folks around usda, well, very few percentage of our fires turn into big burns. two months later guess what happened in new mexico? we had another one. and there was an investigation. that showed that rather than using the infrared technology we have helped fund some folks put their hands on the till, and they did not feel warm. and they walked away. and the winds kicked up, and we know what happens when a little coal gets a little bit of a breeze. sometimes we do it ourselves. give it a little breath print this got to be a better way about ensuring that technology we can ensure firefighters get paid properly but that we are going to follow this so that this is not happening anywhere in america again. i will close with this, mr. chairman. i appreciate your commitment to working with governor noem or with fema, making sure that when

these programs exist that money gets out the door to the families that need it most. thank you for that. good luck with everything and i am honored to have you here today. mrs. rollins: thank you, mr. senator. chair boozman: senator moran. sen. moran: i would defer to the senate majority leader. chair boozman: they told me that the majority leader was here, and it is customary that he goes, but he was trying to be a -- show his servant leadership and let you go. [laughter] sen. moran: i was trying to do the same thing and i yield to the senator from south carolina. chair boozman: sen. fetterman:, i think it is a real tribute sen. fetterman: is a busy person trying to get the railroad going and doing a lot of different things. it shows how important agriculture is not only to him but to his estate. -- his estate. >> moran is trying to get one up on me.

thank you for the willingness to serve. this issue is incredibly important, as you know, to the folks on this committee. it is the number one industry in our state of south dakota. we know you are going to be great in this job and we look forward to getting you confirmed and off to work. there are several things that need to be worked on. we have a record trade deficit which we have never seen that before. it has been one area of our economy we have always had trade surpluses. the emergency relief program has not worked well. there have been a lot of glitches that need to be smoothed out. we need to jump on that one as well. and i would say among the issues that i want to touch on quickly -- and you have been here forever, and i will try and keep this brief semi colleague from kansas can ask questions, but i want to touch on a couple of things that are important in my home state. i have been a long time supporter of mandatory country of origin labeling for beef products and i would say that south dakota cara -- south

carolina producers worked tirelessly to produce some of the highest type quality beef in the world. the system needs to be fair and transparent, which i think is critical that we take the steps to pass legislation tasking usda and ustr to find a path forward on mandatory country of origin labeling. if confirmed, we you -- will you commit to working with my office as well as the u.s. trade rep to ensure a wto-compliant path forward for mandatory country of origin labeling? mrs. rollins: yes sir. i look forward to that and hopefully i can be of value-ad and consensus-driven approach to that and i appreciate your passion for this. sen. thune: appreciate that very much. will look forward to that. as you know, the black hills is an important timber producer. and timber processors and communities depend upon the forest service for nearly 8% of their raw material. in turn the forest service depends on the capacity of processors to manage the

forests. i know this has been touched on, but i want to talk specifically about the black hills. since 2019 the timber sale program on the black hills forest has been cut drastically. sales announced for this fiscal year are approximately 25% of what is allowed for in the current forest plan. in 2021 one of the three primary sawmills in the black hills, today the remaining sawmills are operating at 50%, incurring financial losses in -- and trucking in material from other states. this is not sustainable. the biden administration policies have decimated the timber industry and black hills of south dakota, and it is not sustainable for companies, communities, or, for that matter, for the national forest. we've got to manage our forest in a way that reduces the

wildfire risk that exists out there. we are starting to see evidence of another pine beetle economic epidemic in the black hills. i guess my question is, if confirmed will you commit to work with us quickly and the entire delegation of the black hills forest national for rent and the forest products industry to understand the issues at hand and get much-needed attention and priority and hopefully relief to what is a very dire situation in the black hills national forest? mrs. rollins: yes sir. i have become acutely aware that in multiples of home states this industry is being decimated by current policies. i believe i speak for the larger administration and president trump that that is unacceptable and whatever we need to do within reason and within the law to turn the ship on that, you have my full commitment and as much time as i can possibly give building the best team, getting our undersecretary in this arena confirmed as soon as possible. but we have already begun the

path forward on that and i look forward to working with you and hopefully moving very quickly. sen. thune: we will work quickly to get you confirmed and hopefully people will have first -- will have direct responsibility for this. this is an emergency. people in the black hills and jobs that go with it are really desperate. finally, on just the beginning farmers, it is challenging, as you know, because of some of the barriers of entry, to get into agriculture. making that easier is something we really focused on. i've got a bill with senator klobuchar which we can talk to you later -- later about, but crop insurance has always been the cornerstone of the safety net and we have other programs we try to refine each time we do a farm bill. this farm bill, which the chairman will lead us through, will be my fifth, and as we do that i would encourage you to work without stuff i'm ways to

strengthen and fortify the existing safety net programs and look at ways that we can provide incentives and encourage beginning farmers and young people who desire and aspire to become involved in production agriculture would be able to do so. mrs. rollins: thank you for that. the average age of a farmer in america is 58. if we hope to reverify our communities and go back to family farms we have to address this immediately and whatever that looks like, whatever all of the wholesale approach could be or should be i will be the biggest advocate, the biggest cheerleader. i will be in the white house talking about it all across america to fix that. i think it is of dire importance for the future of our country. sen. thune: thank you for your willingness to serve. mr. chairman, thank you. mrs. rollins: thank you so much, senator. chair boozman: we are still on the first round. senator schiff has already gone, so senator moran.

sen. moran: thank you. i am pleased to be a new member of the senate agriculture committee and it took a waiver that probably involved the majority leader's approval, so i'm pleased to have that deck clear. mrs. rollins: yes, you are all free. sen. moran: miss rollins, thank you for the conversation we had in the office. i want to run through, maybe five things that i want to talk about briefly. some of which we did talk in person. but first of all, it has been described here, the dangerous and dramatic circumstances that farmers and ranchers find themselves in. it is certainly true in kansas. we have the same difficulties everybody else has across the country with high input costs and low commodity prices. but i would add that almost 80% of the counties in kansas are in a drought circumstance. so, you add to the problems that

we cannot grow a crop is dramatic. this is the least amount of wheat harvested in kansas since 1961. and so, there are significant challenges. it highlights what senator thune said about the importance of our risk management program crop insurance. it is, perhaps, as important as anything else we will do. but our failure to pass a farm bill, and one of the reasons i am excited about -- excited to be on the senate agriculture committee, is this does have to be our shot at getting the farm bill done. i cannot imagine there can be another excuse and we will have an administration cheering us on , and senator bozeman and klobuchar are two people that will work together, and i pledge to do my part to accomplish that. as a result of no farm bill and all of these other problems we passed disaster assistance, economic and natural disaster. i want to remind you the -- that

our farmers are going to the banks, there is not time for a farmer to have to wait to see what the consequences were. if we could predict, if usta could tell farmers how the program is going to be administered even before the checks are determined, that would be very valuable as they put it into their planning process. i would remind you that in my view, and my colleagues, certainly my form is at home, the way disaster assistance was implemented in 2020 -- i'm sorry, 2022 -- did not help the farmers that suffered the greatest losses. the way your predecessor implemented the disaster payments was very discouraging, very disappointing. and we would ask you to do so to implement as the payments were determined in the 2018-2019 crop years, usda dispersed the way

that -- in addition to asking that question you would also be compliant with congressional law and intent. we worked hard to make clear that whoever the secretary of agriculture was and whatever administration they could not go back and do it the way that provided almost very little disaster assistance. that is number one. and if you happen to tell me yes? mrs. rollins: yes, and since we have senator thune still here, the quicker we can get our undersecretary approved in that lane the quicker we will be able to move. obviously my confirmation, if approved, and i will be honored. we have begun putting the team together that did this work under the president trump first administration. i thought was we don't have to reinvent the wheel, we can begin moving. i will work all hours to ensure that happens. sen. moran: i think you for that answer. i want to highlight a few words i mentioned in a conversation in an office.

the national bio and agriculture defense facility. in manhattan, kansas, near kansas state university is this national center, created as a result of the fear of an introduction of some entity, something into our food supply system that would be a terrorist act, and do we have the capability, scientifically, to respond? that facility is a 1.5 billion dollars facility. it employs 400 people and it has greater potential than what has been developed between the department of homeland security and the department of agriculture. and it has been transferred to usda. it is your responsibility and i would like if you can give me a point person now or a few days from now which could become my point person on the national bio agriculture -- agri-science facility? mrs. rollins: i cannot this moment, but i will get that to you as soon as i have the ability to do that. i don't know if i have to wait to be confirmed.

if i do hopefully that will come very soon. sen. moran: it seems to me we should be working for your fast confirmation. mrs. rollins: that seems like a really good idea. [laughter] sen. moran: let me highlight nifa and erf. the trump administration in the past decided they wanted to put agencies, federal employees across the country not totally centered here in washington, d.c., the nation's capital. nifa and ers agencies were moved to kansas city. and there is, i think what happened is in the circumstances here in washington, d.c. there were 600-5700 employees, i'm told there are 400 employees now in kansas city, but i'm also, at least by press reports, only 20% of the people are actually working in the office. so, if we want to have the consequence in reviving rural

america, other places in the country, this is a kansas, missouri, nebraska, iowa, where sometimes our farm kids cannot get a job on the farm, cannot return to the family farm, but they want to work in agriculture, or it is a spouse of somebody on the farm. having those employees in places like kansas and missouri and iowa and nebraska creates opportunities they -- that would not otherwise exist. and so in my view the purpose of the move was defeated in the reality of telling people i'm a wealth, you stay in d.c. and work from home. that is a conversation another for -- a number of us had about getting federal employees back in the office. mrs. rollins: i'm 100% agree with you. i am extremely excited to get our workforce back into the office, whether it is here in washington or across the country. in the business we are in at usda, a customer business, and

being available for our customers, though that is in vermont, or texas, or wherever it is, that we have people in the office. that would be a priority of mine. sen. moran: thank you. i am involved in renewable aviation fuel. we have introduced legislation, farm to fly. it has been made a part of the draft of both the house and senate farm bill's. i would just ask your awareness that there is an opportunity for agriculture across the country as we begin to fuel the aviation industry. in kansas, the air capital of the world, as a great potential, but this is a potential for all farmers. as we talk about how to make sure if we have lost a market due to a tariff, or as they struggle we need every market we can get, and it also requires a good definition from 45z and the treasury department. we have an ars research center in manhattan, kansas.

the university of kansas, state university, has a tremendous amount of agricultural research. and we would like to see cooperation between the two, including, potentially, the co-location of their work. facilities for ars are nothing that they should be. there is a number of us, including the chairman of the committee, that are members of the appropriations committee at the department of agriculture. we want to help you get better facilities and i would highlight the need for cooperation. if we are going to build a better expanded facility can we do it in conjunction with the local university and get a bigger bang for the buck? mrs. rollins: i encourage that discussion, obviously as a proud agriculture degree from texas a&m. i'm close to the leadership there. our vice chancellor was hoping to be here today but ended up having to give a speech to some livestock producers. i really look forward, my heart

is with all of our land grants across the country. sen. moran: that was a very fine answer, except there was something you should have said about the importance of other land-grant universities, for example, kansas state. mrs. rollins: for example, kansas state some -- candidate, senator. i'm excited to work with you. sen. moran: misses current one, thank you for raising a great daughter. chair boozman: senator schiff, five minutes. we are going to do five minute rounds now. sen. schatz: -- sen. sc hiff: from workers in venture are picking berries in a brown haze. smoke from the fires. it is a surreal scene to look at images of working in those conditions. these are some of the difficult additions farm workers often in.

they are working in 100 degree heat. care working in the coal. they are some of the hardest-working people i have ever met. i want to raise the impact mass deportations would have on them. first and foremost, on people working so hard to put food on our table and just, to me, the grave injustice of deporting people who are doing such vital work to feed us, there is also the impact on their families. many of them have children who are u.s. citizens and will be u.s. citizens. so, it would have the effect of splitting up their families. even if we set that aside, which we shouldn't, it is estimated that perhaps half of california's farm workforce is undocumented. so, my question is, how are you supposed to farm? how are farmers in california

supposed to survive if there are truly mass deportations in which half of the workforce is sent out of the country? americans don't want to do that work. it is, frankly, just too backbreaking. so, who is going to work the farms? mrs. rollins: senator, we talked about this in your office and had a productive, perhaps agree to disagree, but still productive conversation. and i so appreciate that. we have talked about this within this committee within the last three or four hours as well. president trump ran and was overwhelmingly elected on the priority of border security and mass deportation. he is, and his team are, i'm assuming, currently putting in place the plans to get that process. the first with those who have committed criminal offenses once they have been here. the american people have asked for a secure border and a system

where they do not have to be concerned with the millions and millions that crossed here illegally and brought a lot of strife and unsafe communities to america. i know this is not the committee where we discuss this, and i know the last thing you want to do is get into a debate over it, because i don't want to, but let me answer your question. i will work with our new labor secretary if she is confirmed. everyone would agree, h2 a, important changes to recognize within the agriculture community the importance of a strong labor force. sen. schiff: i still want to get back to my question, though. if they are gone, who is going to do that work? mrs. rollins: sir, we don't know , first of all, who "they" are. we all throw numbers around like

40%, 50%, 60%. just don't know. as these processes and programs are being implemented with the full support of the majority of americans i think that we, as the leaders in agriculture, myself as the leader in usda, others on the committee, that we will work together to understand and hopefully solve for some of these problems. the cattle will have to be milked, but if we have a mass deportation program underway then there is a lot of work we need to do through the labor department, with lori chavez, and working with congress, to solve this through our current labor programs that are already on the books. sen. schiff: let me ask one another related question on this topic, and that is, if we deport a large percentage of our farm workforce, farm labor is going to be scarce. isn't that inevitably going to push up food prices?

and if so, isn't that in sharp contrast with what the president said he wanted to do to bring down egg prices and food prices and everything else? mrs. rollins: first of all we are speaking in hypotheticals, but these are hypotheticals we do need to be thinking through and it is a very fair point. the president has made food inflation and the cost of food one of his top priorities. i have worked alongside him. i have been part of his team for many years now. i believe in his vision and his commitment to america and to his promises, and in so doing i believe we will be able to find in our toolkit what we need to solve for any hypothetical issues that end up turning out to be real over the coming months and years. sen. schiff: thank you. mr. chairman, i would just say i hope they are hypothetical. mrs. rollins: i did too. sen. schiff: i fear they may be all too real. mr. chairman, i yield back. chair boozman: thank you. senator klobuchar is supposedly

on the way. so i'm going to ask one question. and you are welcome to answer it. if there are any thoughts you have as you close, and if she is here then, we are in great shape. if not, then we are out of here. mrs. rollins: i am available all the time. sen. schiff: you are doing a wonderful job. this hearing has been really good. we have had great participation, and because of that it just takes a while. mrs. rollins: yeah, no, i'm honored. sen. schiff: chair boozman: chair boozman: as you have heard there is lots of questions, lots of concerns, lots of concerns in farm country. not only that, but people forget how broad the ag -- the portfolio you are taking on. we could be talking about crypto, we could be talking about a lot of stuff. but we are not. let me just ask you one thing.

i don't think has come up is the fact that america's producers depend on ust's volunteering locally-led conservation programs. conservation technical assistance to implement the most effective conservation practices that meet their operations' unique resource concerns. unfortunately in recent years the focus has identified a lot of other things that may be a top-down approach of pushing, prioritizing carbon sequestration, related activities and drought mitigation, those things are important, and yet again what i want you to talk about is the fact that you have committed to voluntary, locally-led incentive-based conference -- conservation model that has served our farmers and ranchers are so many years very effectively. mrs. rollins: i would, senator.

we know the best conservationists are our farmers and ranchers, certainly from the beginning of our country. one thing i don't think i have talked about is my family on our farm in minnesota, piece of the land, participated in one of those voluntary conservation programs. we actually have firsthand knowledge of what that looked like and how to do it and believe in how important and invaluable it can be. so, yes sir, i look forward to it. other than my personal experience, my sister let it, so i cannot pretend to know much, so i was grateful for her and her family, that i don't know as much about it as i need to and i look for to learning more. you have my commitment that that is an important piece of the work. chair boozman: have you got any closing comments? i'm sorry. mrs. rollins: i do, but i'm guessing that senator warnock might have another question or two. chair boozman: senator warnock. sen. warnock: thank you very

much. just a couple of questions, and thank you for your presentation this morning. farmers in georgia are already talking to me, they are already concerned about potential italia tory actions following president trump's promises to levy heavy tariffs. they are already dealing with slim margins, as i said in my first round of questions. it is a tough business. so much you don't control and it is not difficult to find yourselves in trouble. they are dealing with slim margins due to higher input costs, and the last thing they need is to be caught up in the middle of a trade war that could drive up food prices for all of us. if confirmed, what will you do from your position at usda to ensure that georgia's farmers and families are not caught up in a trade war? it is something i have worked on, by the way, with republicans and helping to get our farmers'

goods to market. it is something we think about a lot. mrs. rollins: when i was in your office last month we talked about your commitment to farmers and what a priority this was to you. georgia is a very important agriculture state, so you are obviously pastoring a church and in the united states senate, but i was impressed at your commitment to your ag community and continuing to work with you. it is very clear that the coming tariffs -- and i think there is no doubt that president trump has been very transparent that he believes this is an extremely important tool in his toolkit to put america first, to revive the economy, to get us back to a place where he believes we need to be, and i agree with him and hope to help him execute that vision. but it also should not be surprising that his heart and his commitment to our farmers and agriculture community was certainly clear in the last administration.

the number one answer from my perspective is working around-the-clock to expand market access and working on new trade deals and getting new partners from around the world. i have an undersecretary already named. hopefully get him confirmed. he will be committed and confirmed, chairman boozman. to get him confirmed quickly so we can build those teams. the president is a consummate dealmaker and i feel very confident we will be able to expand those markets, ginter po backed the trade deficit, and get back to trade surpluses, which i know we are used to. immediately moving into the distribution of disaster relief, economic relief, the new farm bill coming out. i have already announced the undersecretary and put the team in place. sen. warnock: let me press on. i agree with you that access to foreign markets is critical. and in georgia we have a lot of sectors that are reliant on strong export markets. are you concerned that

isolationist trade practices might harm our farmers' ability to access these foreign markets? mrs. rollins: i have full confidence in president trump's ability to lead us on this, and hopefully he and many of you have confidence in my ability to help from the attic perspective. sen. warnock: i look forward to continuing to gauge you on this if you are confirmed. usda has a documented an unfortunate history of racial discrimination. even recent history. i was proud to have secured funding in the inflation reduction act to provide financial assistance to farmers who had previously experienced discrimination at the hands of the usda form-lending programs. this was a meaningful step in rebuilding trust. however, usda still has a lot of work to do. this will only be more difficult following the new administration's executive order and that rolling back all of this progress. i was proud congress passed my

legislation in 2021 to require usda to create an equity commission and the commission's final report provides a roadmap for continuing this work. chair boozman, without objection i would like to enter the ust's 2024 equity report into the record. thank you so much. when we met last month you promised to read the equity report. have you gotten a chance to read it yet? mrs. rollins: 90 pages and 66 recommendations, yes sir. these don't ask me to quote page 66, but yet. sen. warnock: i understand it has been removed from the website. i'm glad you got a chance to read it. will you consider the recommendations of the equity commission's report if you are confirmed? mrs. rollins: let me answer this way. i was really appreciative of the conversation. for me, more knowledge is always best, understanding where everyone comes from. whether i agree or disagree, recognizing what is in the past

is important, but also realizing the path ahead. sen. warnock: will you consider the recommendations? mrs. rollins: sir, i will consider anything on the table. i think that is fair. but also president trump won on the concept of removing the diversity, equity, and inclusion, making sure we are basing our decisions on merit, and i support that 100% as well. but i look forward, senator, to continuing to talk about this, and my friend has long talked to me about the plight of like farmers in georgia and other places around the country. i am always open to discussions, always. may i say, there is no room for racism at the united states department of agriculture or any agency. sen. warnock: in that regard, will you commit to recruiting more diverse employees who understand these communities, have relationships with these communities so we build trust with these communities and the lending office? mrs. rollins: i will recruit the best workforce in the history of

the united states department of agriculture. i believe that will include many members of all different corners of our country. sen. warnock: do you think a diverse workforce and a high-quality workforce are somehow oppositional objectives? mrs. rollins: i think always hiring for who is the best person of the job, who is going to do the best service, who is equipped to execute on all of the promises is the promise of america. but i also believe, to your point, and have long held that ensuring that we give all people a chance to succeed and thrive, and for equal opportunity is a bedrock, foundational cancer bull of america. sen. warnock: on that you and i agree. mrs. rollins: thank you, senator. chair boozman: senator klobuchar. sen. klobuchar: thank you very much, chairman boozman, and i'm hoping these will be your last for questions. your family looks like they want to break for lunch.

mrs. rollins: how are the teenagers? they haven't got any looks for me, so hopefully they are good. sen. klobuchar: house republicans are already eyeing nearly $300 billion in cuts to the snap program. roughly 30%. that is just reports, so. i think you have heard from some of my colleagues about how this is such an issue in rural america. and in my state, as senator smith pointed out, our hunger rates are higher in rural vanities in the metropolitan areas. what kind of an impact do you think a $300 billion cut would have to snap and if confirmed will you commit to supporting robust funding for ust's nutrition program? -- usda's nutrition program? mrs. rollins: my commitment will be that these programs are effective and efficient. i mean this sincerely -- the

importance of our leadership as a bipartisan body to ensure that those with the least among us are ably supported and don't go hungry. this is the united states of america. i don't yet know what the numbers look like. my commitment to you is that we will talk about this until the very last minute. i will always be open to you and that i look forward to ensuring that the original core tenets of their program are called to do. sen. klobuchar: i will follow-up on this in a written question, but i want to know whether you think snap benefits should be calculated based on for -- current food costs? mrs. rollins: obviously current food costs, the importance of the inputs into the program and understanding where the market is will always be a priority. mrs. rollins: congress made significant investments in climate-smart agriculture through the inflation reduction act, giving more farmers access to popular conservation programs. we had a situation where a bunch

of the farm groups actually were supportive of this part of the ira. i have always led bipartisan legislation on conservation, working with our hunting and fishing groups. one of the bills i had has been with senator thune, based on voluntary conservation. program participation. a recent executive order issued just of course in the last two days to pause disbursements from the inflation reduction act with put some of these plans that i mentioned, crp plans and the like, in jeopardy. what is your understanding of the impact of these executive orders, and will of these orders to slow ira disbursements impact farmers looking to use voluntary conservation programs? mrs. rollins: my commitment is to obviously understand exactly what the target in -- and the goal of that executive order is. i have not been read in on that

yet, but i will be. and ensuring that aligns with what is stated in that executive order. again, president trump and our administration's heart is with the rural communities and the agriculture communities and ensuring that there is full understanding and data to support what this will do. course, not supplied -- not surprisingly the president has been clear in his priorities. on climate programs and whether taxpayer dollars should be supporting those. the robust conversation we will have is to follow, and i look forward to that. you have my commitment that i'm always available to discuss that and represent aggie interests where appropriate in those discussions with the white house. sen. klobuchar: thank you, and also just wanted to thank you for your commitment to the next generation of farmers and ranchers. as you know the average age is, while not quite as old as the u.s. senate, but it has been creeping up, and we need new people to go into agriculture.

i hope just with your background and your the faa involvement and like i think that would be among your many priorities would be a really smart thing to go around and talk about, and i know there is plenty of people on our side of the aisle that would join you in that focus. so, thank you. mrs. rollins: thank you, senator. chair boozman: i want to thank mrs. rollins for appearing before the committee today, and also i would like to thank ranking member klobuchar and all of the members of the committee for the great participation that we had today. the ranking member and i have agreed that questions for the record are due by 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. this concludes today's hearing. mrs. rollins: thank you so much. what an honor to be here. than

>> wednesday, health and human services sec nominee and a confirmation hearing. an environmental lawyer and activist on the 2024 independent presidential candidate who eventually withdrew from the race to endorse donald trump. you can whe hearing at 10

:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. on thursday, he returns to capitol hill to takeions from the senate health committee 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three. you can watch both hearings on c-span now or c-span.org. >> c-span. democracy unfiltered. we are funded by these television companies and more, including mediacom. >> nearly 30 years ago, mediacom was founded on a powerful idea, bring cutting edge broadband to underserved communities. from coast to coast, we created 850,000 miles of fiber. we broke speed barriers, delivered to every customer and lead the way in developing a 10 g platform and now with mediacom mobile, offers the fastest, most reliable network on the go. mediacom. decades of dedication, decades of delivery, decades ahead. >> mediacom supports c-span as a