Although they’re in the minority, Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee will work for regulatory relief at home for farmers and ranchers and market access abroad for U.S. farm exports, said Rep. Michael Conaway, the GOP leader on the committee, on Wednesday. Conaway said three newly elected Republicans will join the panel and two veterans — Mike Rogers of Alabama and former Agriculture chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma — will leave.
Republicans will hold 21 seats and Democrats 26 during the two-year session that opened this month, a reversal from last session’s ratio of 26 Republicans and 20 Democrats. Conaway said the three new Republican members are first-termers Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Jim Baird of Indiana, and Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota.
Lucas and Rogers will serve as the senior Republicans on other House committees this session — Lucas on Science, Space, and Technology and Rogers on Homeland Security.
“I am taking a temporary leave of absence from the House Agriculture Committee,” said Lucas in a statement. “Just as I have been a part of five farm bills and authored the 2014 farm bill, I will return to the Agriculture Committee when we begin consideration of the next farm bill. I look forward to continuing my efforts on behalf of agriculture and rural America.”
Conaway and the new Agriculture chairman, Democrat Collin Peterson of Minnesota, agree that implementation of the 2018 farm and nutrition law, enacted last year, is a priority for the committee this year. Peterson plans a heavy schedule of hearings on the Trump administration’s stewardship of the USDA. There were few oversight hearings last session, when Republicans controlled the House.
“We have a great deal of work to do, including implementing and protecting the new farm bill, continuing to press for a rollback of harmful regulations that hurt our farmers and ranchers, and leveling the global playing field to create more market access for U.S. agriculture products,” said Conaway.
Besides Lucas and Rogers, Republicans Bob Gibbs of Ohio, Jodey Arrington of Texas, and Steve King of Iowa did not return to the committee. Last session, two former chairmen, Lucas and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, served on Agriculture. This session, there is just one, Conaway, who was chairman from 2015 until early this month. Goodlatte did not run for re-election.
To see the list of Republicans on the committee, click here.