Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, the last of President Trump’s nominees for the cabinet, is sailing, albeit slowly, to confirmation as agriculture secretary with the backing of the major U.S. farm groups. The agricultural community talks so much about Perdue buckling down to work at USDA that today’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee or Senate approval of the nomination seems like a formality.
Assuming he doesn’t hit a pothole, it will be some number of days before Perdue can move into “the cage,” as the secretary’s suite of offices on the second floor of the USDA administration building is known. The spacious corner office reserved for the agriculture secretary has a breathtaking view of the Washington Monument. The USDA is the only department with headquarters on the national Mall, not just bordering it.
An aide to Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts says there will not be a vote on Perdue’s nomination today. Roberts will allow time for Perdue to respond to questions that committee members submit in writing. Usually, a few days are allotted for that. Then the committee can schedule a vote on Perdue, which is expected to advance the nomination to the floor. Democrats have demanded full use of Senate debate time for other Trump nominees.
At a farm policy conference early this week, Roberts said the confirmation hearing will bring “a lot of questions about what he will do as secretary” to respond to “a tough patch in farm country.” Cash farm income is down by 31 percent since 2013 with little improvement forecast in the near term.
Roberts and his House counterpart, Michael Conaway, say Perdue, who served two terms as governor and runs agribusinesses, has the temperament and experience to run USDA. “He’s got that governor’s experience, where he also had to live with fewer resources than he had previously,” said Conaway. “I’m excited about Sonny being our secretary of agriculture. He couldn’t get here soon enough.”
A farm lobbyist expressed the common view of Perdue that “he’ll sail through” the confirmation process despite recent criticism that Perdue committed ethical lapses as governor and that he cut deeply into state spending on food safety. A transition official said there was a partisan backdrop to the ethics complaints — Perdue was the first Republican to be elected governor of Georgia since the Reconstruction. He would be the second Southerner to head USDA.
The agriculture secretary is the most prominent political appointee at USDA, but hardly the least. Each administration fills sub-cabinet jobs with its partisans and there are dozens of jobs that go to political appointees throughout the department. Beyond that, the secretary has the final word on which civil servant will head various agencies or initiatives. In all, there are roughly 400 executive jobs at USDA.
Since the inauguration, a Trump “beachhead team” has worked with the civil servants who were named caretakers of USDA’s operations. Farm group leaders say action at USDA, like any other department, slows as each administration gets its team into place. In the interim, said Food Safety News, “There are fewer meetings with outsiders and those calling into the agencies report it’s hard to know who to leave a message with — and don’t expect a callback.”
“You got to believe a lot of folks at USDA want their leader in place as well,” said Conaway. “Until the top guy gets in there, begins to share his vision of what he wants the agency to look like, where he wants it to focus, all those kinds of things, they’re just kind of muddling and they don’t like that. Those are workers and they want his leadership.”
To watch a webcast of the confirmation hearing, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET, click here.
To brush up on Perdue, here are some FERN stories about the nominee:
Senate panel ‘will move as quickly as possible’ on Perdue nomination
Perdue assets top $11 million. Will he debut at USDA in April?
USDA nominee Perdue is accused of ethical lapses as governor
Vilsack back Perdue as his USDA successor
Activists, farm groups try to weave their goals into Perdue’s agenda at USDA
Inauguration at hand, Trump to announce Perdue for USDA chief