President-elect Donald Trump nominated Brooke Rollins, director of his Domestic Policy Council during his first term, for Agriculture secretary, saying she would “spearhead the effort to protect American farmers, who are truly the backbone of our country.” Rollins is chief executive of a think tank that has advocated stronger work requirements for SNAP recipients. She would be the second woman to lead USDA.
Trump tried during his first term to restrict access to food stamps by able-bodied adults who did not work at least 20 hours a week. A federal judge overturned a USDA regulation in October 2020 that would have ended SNAP benefits for 700,000 people in so-called labor surplus areas. Able-bodied adults without dependents, known as ABAWDs, generally are limited to 90 days of benefits in a three-year period unless they work at least 20 hours a week, are in a workfare program, or are in a job-training program.
Rollins grew up in Glen Rose, Texas, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth, earned a law degree from the University of Texas, and ran a state-level think tank before working in the Trump White House. She is the chief executive of America First Policy Institute. At the White House, she was director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Trump cited Rollins’ rural ties and said in a statement “Brooke has a practitioner’s expertise, along with deep policy credentials in both nonprofit and government leadership at the state and national levels. As our next secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American farmers, who are truly the backbone of our country.”
Farm groups applauded Trump’s selection of Rollins on Saturday. “Effective leadership at USDA is more important than ever as farmers and ranchers face a struggling agricultural economy,” said the American Farm Bureau Federation. The National Farmers Union said, ““If confirmed, Ms. Rollins will begin her tenure at a time when family farmers and our communities face historic challenges, including soaring input costs, difficult market conditions, extreme weather events, and the ongoing need for the certainty of a five-year farm bill.”
“Brooke has been a Trump loyalist from the beginning and having grown up as part of a generational farming family, agriculture is in her DNA,” Indiana farmer Kip Tom, who campaigned for Trump in farm country, said on social media,
The Agriculture Department, with a budget of more than $230 billion and a workforce of nearly 100,000 people, operates a panorama of programs from farm supports, agricultural research, and export promotion to public nutrition, overseas food aid, meat safety, and the national forest system. Roughly seven of every $10 of its funding is spent on public nutrition, headlined by SNAP and school lunch. Farm supports and land stewardship get $1.40 of every $10.
Republicans in Congress say their goal in the deadlocked farm bill negotiations is to put “more farm in the farm bill.” They have proposed huge increases in crop subsidy and crop insurance outlays — $47 billion over 10 years, according to the CBO — while cutting SNAP by $29 billion, and allowing climate mitigation funds to be spent on conservation projects that do not sequester carbon or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Democrats oppose cuts in SNAP and want to keep the “guardrails” on climate funding. Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat, has suggested a smaller increase than Republicans desire for the reference prices that trigger crop subsidy payments.
In 2023, the America First Policy Institute said an agreement on raising the federal debt limit should “reimpose work requirements for able-bodied adults as a condition for social benefits eligibility.” The final agreement, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, made limited progress, it said.
The debt limit deal called for a gradual increase, to 55, for the age limit of ABAWDs covered by the 90-day limit on SNAP benefits, unless they worked at least 20 hours a week. It also reduced the power of states to exempt SNAP recipients from the time limit, and limited to one year states’ ability to carryover unused ABAWD exemptions said a USDA summary. The agreement also created new exceptions to the time limit for military veterans, homeless individuals, and young adults under the age of 25 who “aged out” of foster care.
Ann Veneman, a former California state agriculture secretary, was the first woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, during the first four years of the George W. Bush administration. Every secretary following her has been a former governor. Jack Block, who led the USDA during the Reagan era, was the last working farmer to become secretary. Sonny Perdue, Agriculture secretary during Trump’s first term, was a veterinarian by training but spent most of his time as a businessman and in politics.