One of the last of the “Watergate babies” elected to Congress in 1974, Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy said on Monday he will retire next year after eight terms in the Senate that included stints as chairman of its Appropriations, Agriculture and Judiciary committees. Leahy shepherded passage of the national organic standards law in 1990 and oversaw expansion of SNAP and the school lunch program.
“It is time to put down this gavel,” said Leahy in an announcement at the Vermont Statehouse, where he began his first Senate campaign. “It is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry on this work for our great state. It’s time to come home.”
Leahy, 81, is the longest-serving senator in Vermont history. VTDigger reported that Rep. Peter Welch, a fellow Democrat, is expected to run for the vacant seat, while Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, is not interested in running.
“Vermont is also the only state in the country that has never sent a woman to Congress, and there is enormous political pressure—particularly in Democratic circles—to change course, ” wrote VTDigger’s Lola Duffort and Sarah Mearhoff.
“Sen. Leahy has been a giant when it comes to supporting sustainable and organic farmers, local food systems and agricultural conservation,” said the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. “As a long-time agricultural appropriator, he championed sustainable and organic funding priorities over and over again.”
Besides the National Organic Program, NSAC said Leahy was instrumental in creation of the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and USDA’s Farm to School grant program, all while supporting public nutrition.
During his announcement in Montpelier, Leahy credited Vermont farmers with convincing him that “we needed a law to set standards in organic farming.”
“As Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, we were able to pass the law that established the national organics standards and labeling program, helping to launch an organic farm sector that now is a $55 billion a year industry and an important new avenue for Vermont’s farmers,” he said.