Agriculture Department Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins will testify before senators this morning about her plans to lead the agency’s nearly 100,000 workforce. Also in this issue: hashing out details about Republican reconciliation proposals for food assistance programs, plus who’s who on USDA’s expanding leadership team.
Rollins is expected to name five key priorities in her opening remarks: distributing disaster and economic payments to farmers, addressing animal diseases including bird flu, reauthorizing the farm bill, emphasizing “America First” policies at USDA, and reassessing certain regulations and programs. Excerpts from her prepared statement were shared with Bloomberg Government ahead of the hearing. ...