The Senate Agriculture Committee will try again today for a vote on Sonny Perdue to become agriculture secretary. Chairman Pat Roberts originally planned to hold a vote on Wednesday alongside a roll call vote by the full Senate but there was no such vote so the committee announced an “updated time” of today, immediately following the first floor vote in the chamber, expected around 9:45 a.m. ET.
A former two-term governor of Georgia, Perdue is exected to breeze to confirmation although the pace of action has been slow. He was President Trump’s final cabinet nominee, on Jan. 19, had to wait at the end of the line of executive nominees for an FBI background check, and was the last of Trump’s cabinet members to get a committee hearing. Once he gets through committee, there’s a risk the nomination will become snarled in an expected filibuster over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
Kathleen Merrigan, deputy agriculture secretary during the Obama era, said she wishes Perdue well in the job, reported The Hagstrom Report. During a speech to a food conference, Merrigan said she opposed an online petition against Perdue and told listeners to give Perdue a chance in a very tough job, said the Report.