Saying he needed to get “all of our players on the field,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue gave senior-level jobs to three USDA nominees, effective on Tuesday, who are waiting for a confirmation vote in the Senate. The three were nominated last year and drew some opposition from senators. They were renominated by the White House earlier this month, when Congress convened for a new session.
Perdue named Mindy Brashears as deputy undersecretary for food safety, Scott Hutchins as deputy undersecretary for research and Naomi Earp as deputy assistant secretary for civil rights. Brashears is a Texas Tech professor of food safety and public health. Hutchins is a senior executive at Corteva, a major seed and ag chemical company. Earp chaired the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during the closing years of the George W. Bush administration.
If confirmed, Brashears and Hutchins would become undersecretaries and Earp would be an assistant secretary. Each would be the No. 1 officer in their area of jurisdiction.
“Now, they will get to work right away on behalf of the American people. Nevertheless, I urge the Senate to act on their new nominations as quickly as possible, so we can have them in the positions for which they were intended in the first place,” said Perdue.
The Trump administration has been slow to fill the top tier of jobs at USDA. Perdue was the last of Trump’s cabinet nominees and got a historically late start. Five of 13 posts requiring Senate confirmation are vacant, including posts that Brashears, Hutchins and Earp would occupy. The White House has yet to announce a nominee for USDA chief financial officer or undersecretary for nutrition, the official who oversees the bulk of USDA spending.