Secretary of Agriculture
Who is running USDA while the Trump team arrives?
The headlines go to the president's appointee for agriculture secretary — this year, President Trump's selection of former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. But the Agriculture Department has approximately 400 executive jobs, the great majority of them filled by the appointee. Michael Young, the USDA budget director, is the top officer at USDA for the moment, awaiting Senate confirmation of the new secretary.
Inauguration nears without nominee for agriculture secretary
Like other farm leaders, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley says he's at a loss to explain why President-elect Donald Trump has waited so long to name his nominee for agriculture secretary. Trump "has met with numerous people," Grassley told reporters, so "you can't say he has ignored" the position although the long wait has inspired grumbling, and now rumors, in farm country.
Trump ‘down to earth’ and ‘attentive’ in USDA interviews; more aggies visit Trump Tower
Big farmer Kip Tom of Indiana, a member of the Trump agriculture advisory committee, was at Trump Tower in New York for an interview amid conflicting descriptions of President-elect Donald Trump's search for a nominee for agriculture secretary. Elsa Murano said Trump was "down to earth" and "attentive" when he interviewed her for the job 10 days ago.
Trump looking for ‘absolute most highly qualified, best person’ for USDA
President-elect Donald Trump is flirting with the record for the slowest announcement of a nominee for agriculture secretary in 24 years, but transition spokesman Jason Miller says "the focus is making sure that the president-elect picks the person he wants to go with and that he's comfortable that he's picking the absolute most highly qualified, best person."
Trump transition team tells one of its own to ‘back off’ about Sen. Heitkamp
Republican lawyer Gary Baise helped assemble Donald Trump’s agricultural advisory committee last summer. But now he’s been chastised by at least one member of the presidential transition team for his public remarks about Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who Trump is considering for secretary of agriculture.
USDA and VA are last on Trump list for nominees
President-elect Donald Trump has selected 13 of the 15 nominees for the cabinet. "He's been on a tear," says the Washington Post. The remaining slots are secretary of Agriculture and of Veterans Affairs. There hasn't been much talk about USDA since Republican activists objected to Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, being considered for the post.