For two months, Democrat Collin Peterson gave brief answers with few details about his plans as the incoming chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. “I don’t think we’ve done enough oversight,” he said at one point. On another occasion, he said, “We’re going to spend a lot of time looking at how [the USDA] implements this [farm] bill.” Now a two-page memo spells out a meaty agenda of hearings on topics from the farm economy and the trade war to rural broadband and a review of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s decision to move two USDA agencies out of Washington.
Peterson will formally become chairman of the committee in the next few days, said a spokesman on Thursday, although there’s been no question the post is his. Like Nancy Pelosi’s return as House Speaker after years in the minority, this will be Peterson’s second turn as Agriculture chairman. His plan for the rigorous examination of USDA activities dovetails with the intentions of House Democrats for an assertive two years of legislation and scrutiny of administration actions.
The committee ratio of 26 Republicans and 20 Democrats in 2018 will be reversed, more or less, with Democrats in charge, said a farm lobbyist. Some churning of membership seems in store, considering Democrats picked up 40 seats in the Nov. 6 midterm elections as well as the usual shuffling of committee assignments at the start of each two-year session. In 2015, 14 of 45 members of the Agriculture Committee were newcomers, and in 2017, 12 of 46 panelists were new to the committee. At least seven members will leave the committee this year due to retirement, electoral defeat, election as governor, or, in the case of Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, selection as Rules Committee chairman.
During a post-election news conference, Peterson said he would “elevate” younger members of the committee and create a new generation of agriculture policy experts. The memo says the six subcommittee chairs “will be empowered to do a lot of the work at their level as opposed to the top-down style” of the Republican-controlled 2017-18 session.
“Much of the work in 2019 will focus on oversight of implementation of the 2018 farm bill,” says the memo. “Other focuses will be on the condition of the farm economy and the impacts of trade negotiations and tariffs on rural America.” Peterson was not immediately available for comment on the memo.
The list of possible topics for hearings for each subcommittee begins with “farm bill implementation.” The list includes Perdue’s realignment of the USDA’s organizational tree in three areas, including the plan to relocate the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture by the end of this year. Also on the list are rural broadband, the impact of crop insurance on land stewardship, reauthorization of the CFTC, USDA proposals on SNAP work rules, and the Trump tariff payment program.
Hearings for the full committee are possible with Perdue on the farm economy, implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard, and rural broadband.