thank you chair boozman. 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

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 o

boozman: thank you, madam chair. chairman: mr. schiff? sen. schiff: i feel i should talk about the mountains versus plains. but i understand where the chair is from and you are the chair, i'm inclined to agree with the chair. chairman: thank you. mr. schiff: i have friends on both sides of this issue and i stand with my friends. mr. zeldin, as you're well aware, the horrific fires that have ravaged california over the last week have displaced thousands of people and resulted in the loss of more than two dozen lives. as these fires continue to destroy californian's homes and livelihoods and more, it's more than important california has the full support of the federal government to recover and respond, fueled by severe drought conditions and strong santa ana winds, unimaginable events like these fires devastate communities and worsen californian's water scarcity. when you were state senator in new york, you were a member of the state senate bipartisan task force and hurricane sandy's recovery and you helped with a package including tax assessmen