Senators considering two of President Donald Trump’s nominees for positions atop the Agriculture Department Tuesday sought assurances the agency would help cover agricultural trade losses set off by a trade war.
Both Stephen Vaden and Tyler Clarkson, respectively nominated to serve as USDA’s deputy secretary and general counsel, at their Tuesday nomination hearing backed a funding mechanism known as the Commodity Credit Corporation. The first Trump administration used the corporation to pay out $23 billion of farmers’ international trade losses resulting from its tariff policies.
“As a judge who has served the past four years on a court possessing exclusive ...