President Biden’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the Agriculture Department, Xochitl Torres Small, easily cleared a procedural hurdle on a 79-8 Senate roll call on Monday, opening the door to a confirmation vote expected on Tuesday. The granddaughter of migrant farmworkers, Torres Small would be the first Hispanic deputy secretary of the USDA.
During her nomination hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Torres Small said she would try to give everyone a fair shot. “Fighting for the underdog means fighting for people who have a vision but often lack a voice. Keeping your word—in communities that have been let down by the federal government, to USDA employees, and to Congress—becomes paramount in building trust and hope,” she said.
As deputy secretary, Torres Small would be in charge of day-to-day operations at the USDA, one of the largest federal departments, with 100,000 employees and offices in every state. Torres Small has been undersecretary for rural development since Oct. 7, 2021, and would succeed Jewel Bronaugh, the first Black person to serve as deputy secretary.
Torres Small was the first woman to represent southwestern New Mexico in Congress when she was elected to the House in 2018, narrowly defeating Republican Yvette Herrell. In 2020, when Torres Small ran for reelection, Herrell defeated her by 8 percentage points in the Republican-leaning district.
In the May nomination hearing, Torres Small seconded Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s view that all sizes and types of farms should have a place in U.S. agriculture. “For decades we have prioritized a ‘get big or get out’ mentality that isn’t working,” she said. “Our focus on equity is about addressing systemic inequities, giving everyone a fair shot, and making sure that everyone has a seat at the table.”
Bronaugh was the first of Biden’s appointees to leave the USDA, departing at the end of February in a tenure that included co-chairing the Equity Commission that examined USDA programs and its operations for fairness. The second would be Janie Hipp, USDA general counsel for the past two years. She will become chief executive on Aug. 1 of Native Agriculture Financial Services, a lender dedicated to working with Native American producers.
The Senate has yet to vote on the nomination of Margo Schlanger to be assistant secretary for civil rights or to hold a nomination hearing on Stacy Dean to be undersecretary for nutrition.
A mixture of Democratic and Republican senators voted on Monday to effectively end debate on the Torres Small, a test of support for a nominee that requires 60 votes for passage. All of the opponents in the 79-8 roll call were Republicans.