On a voice vote, the Senate confirmed agricultural law expert Janie Hipp, who promised to be “a big voice at the interdepartmental table” in dealing with cattle prices and biofuels, as USDA general counsel. She was the first of President Biden’s nominees for top-tier executive posts at USDA to see a Senate vote, but action could be near on others.
The Senate Agriculture Committee cleared California agriculture official Jennifer Moffitt for a floor vote last week and is to meet on Thursday for a confirmation hearing on Homer Wilkes, nominated for undersecretary for natural resources. The committee could vote soon on sending two nominations for undersecretary to the floor; Robert Bonnie for farm production and conservation and Xochitl Torres Small for rural development.
“I commit to you, I will get on this [cattle price transparency] as one of my very, very top priorities,” Hipp told senators at her confirmation hearing in late May. “We will be a strong voice and we will sit down with DOJ regularly.” On biofuels, where the USDA has an advisory role in EPA decisions, she said, “Sometimes the voices of farmers and ranchers in agriculture get drowned out by other voices, but they have not heard my voice yet.”
The Senate had confirmed only two USDA nominees this year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh, until the voice vote on Hipp on Friday. A dozen other top posts need Senate approval, including the eight undersecretaries, who each oversee a field of USDA action, from SNAP and meat safety to farm subsidies and rural economic development. The White House has named its nominees for five of the undersecretary slots.
In the past week, Biden nominated Chavonda Jacobs-Young to be undersecretary for research and also nominated Adrienne Wojciechowski to be assistant secretary for congressional relations.
Hipp, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, grew up in a small town in southeastern Oklahoma and was involved in agriculture from an early age. “I did the payroll every Saturday and the books every month” for the small tractor dealership run by her grandfather before building a career in agricultural law. “I will never forget where I grew up,” she said at her confirmation. Hipp began practicing law during the agricultural recession of the 1980s.
“Her experience and hard work have more than prepared her for the tough work ahead at the [Agriculture] Department,” said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow. The senior Republican on the committee, Sen. John Boozman, said he was confident Hipp would “provide sound, practical and candid legal advice” at USDA.
Inspector General Phyllis Fong, who has monitored USDA programs since 2002, was named acting inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Authority on Friday and will hold the post in combination with her work at the USDA. Fong is one of the 15 USDA officials who work subject to Senate confirmation.