It could be May before Sonny Perdue starts work at the Department of Agriculture, the latest start for an incoming secretary since USDA became a federal department in 1889. The Senate Agriculture Committee approved Perdue’s nomination on a voice vote but it’s not clear when the Senate will vote.
New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was the only dissenter during the Agriculture Committee vote. Georgia Republican David Perdue, a cousin of the nominee, abstained during the brief committee session in the Capitol. The first Republican elected governor of Georgia since Reconstruction, Perdue is broadly supported by the farm and agribusiness sector and is arguably this least controversial of Trump’s nominees.
“We need to get Gov. Perdue down to USDA to get to work. Rural America is ready,” said Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts. The committee held a confirmation hearing for Perdue a week ago.
The agriculture secretary is the most prominent administration appointee and sets the tone for carrying out administration policies. Dozens of other political appointees, some needing Senate approval, follow the secretary into office. Some lawmakers have said quietly that Perdue might have tempered White House proposals in mid-March for large cuts in USDA discretionary spending. Farm groups regard the agriculture secretary as their ally in dealing with regulators from other parts of the government, especially EPA. Perdue pledged during his confirmation hearing to protect U.S. farm exports as the administration rewrites trade rules.
Further down the road, Perdue would present the administration views as Congress writes the 2018 farm law. The early rounds of idea-gathering already are under way.
Perdue’s nomination could become snarled in a filibuster threatened for next week over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. The Senate is scheduled to take a two-week recess beginning April 8 and when it returns, a top order of business will be passage of a bill to fund the government for the rest of this fiscal year, which could prevent action on Perdue. There’s always the chance of an agreement for a speedy vote on him but Democrats have asked full debate time on other nominees.
In any case, Perdue will be the latest to start work of any agriculture secretary named by an incoming president since USDA was elevated to cabinet rank in 1889, according to USDA records. Most agriculture secretaries are confirmed speedily by the Senate and take office on the same day as the new president or soon after. The latest to take office in modern times was Clayton Yeutter, on Feb. 19, 1989, a month after President George HW Bush entered the White House. In earlier times, when presidential terms began on March 4, the latest an agriculture secretary took office during a change in administration was March 7, 1893.
Traditionally, presidents-elect announce cabinet nominees before the year-end holidays, allowing time for the Senate to hold confirmation hearings in early January. Perdue was the last of Trump’s cabinet nominees, announced on Jan. 19, the day before inauguration and the longest search for a USDA nominee since Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. But FDR’s choice, Henry Wallace, took office on the same day as his president.