Texas Republican Mike Conaway, the incoming chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said he expects “vigorous oversight” of federal programs from crop insurance and food stamps to farm subsidies and the futures markets in the new session of Congress. Conaway redrew the jurisdiction of the Agriculture subcommittees and said, “All six subcommittees will be expected to carry out vigorous oversight of their mission areas.” At present, there are five subcommittees.
A newly created subcommittee, Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit, will oversee commodity markets as well as ag credit, energy, rural development and rural electrification. The other subcommittees are Nutrition; General Farm Commodities and Risk Management; Conservation and Forestry; Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research; and Livestock and Foreign Agriculture.
They will replace the current line-up of Conservation, Energy and Forestry; Department Operations, Oversight and Nutrition; General Farm Commodities and Risk Management; Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology and Foreign Agriculture; and Livestock, Rural Development and Credit subcommittees.
When he becomes Agriculture chairman, Conaway will end his tenure as Ethics chairman, a job that makes colleagues skittish when they see him coming, Conaway says in a Roll Call profile.