Grassley Wants Quick Confirmation of Vilsack at USDA

One GOP Senator very familiar with President Biden’s pick for United States Agriculture Secretary is urging there be a speedy confirmation of former Obama USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Iowa’s Chuck Grassley says the Senate can now move forward to organize committees in a 50-50 power-sharing deal now that the hot issue of ending the Senate filibuster is apparently off the table. The timing for the Senate Ag Committee to organize and hold a Vilsack hearing isn’t yet decided.

“When the hearing does happen, I would welcome the opportunity to introduce the former governor of Iowa to the committee. I think I did that ten-years ago. Secretary Vilsack needs to be confirmed as soon as possible, so that he can start the work of representing farmers in this administration.”

Grassley says farmers want a strong Renewable Fuel Standard, transparency in the cattle markets, and continued farm bill ARC and PLC payments.

“Make sure that there’s no changes to the five-year farm program because we don’t usually change the five-year program in the middle, and I don’t want Biden coming in and changing them, because we’ve got to have certainty for farmers for that five-year period of time. And I hope one of the things, they’ll take advantage of the money that we put in the last CARES Act to reimburse biofuels producers.”

Grassley also hopes Vilsack will press for more free trade talks, but he predicts the new administration will be slow to get out of the gate in advancing new trade talks.

Source: NAFB News

Recommended Posts

Loading...