Senate Ag Committee Holds Confirmation Hearing For Agriculture Secretary Nominee Brooke Rollins

Good morning. I'm delighted to call today's hearing to order. First, I'd like to congratulate two members of this committee who were instrumental in organizing the inaugural ceremonies that took place at the Capitol earlier this week: Senator Klobuchar and Senator Fischer, respectively the Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Senate Rules Committee in the last Congress.

For more than a year, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, led by Senator Klobuchar, put tremendous effort into planning and organizing a traditional ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol. As you know, those plans had to be set aside at the very last minute because of the bitter cold. For the more intimate gathering inside the Rotunda that we witnessed on Monday, thanks to her efforts and without missing a beat, our nation's tradition of peacefully transferring power continued, and the President was sworn in on January 20th, as required by the Constitution. Many thanks to Senator Klobuchar, Senator Fischer, and the staff for successfully organizing and hosting one of our nation's most important civic traditions.

I would also like to congratulate Senator Klobuchar on becoming the Ranking Member of our committee. I've worked closely with her over the years and look forward to continuing our partnership. I visited Minnesota with Senator Klobuchar in the spring of 2023 and met with farmers with the Klobuchar estate in similarly cold weather that we're experiencing today, only it was in May. I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to hear from those farm families. I look forward to hosting her in Arkansas in the not-too-distant future.

I would like to welcome the committee's members. For those returning, thank you for your continuing service. For our four new members, Senators Sinema, Schiff, Moran, and Jones, thank you for choosing to serve on the committee. I look forward to working with you and learning more about what is important to you and your states.

Our committee, established in 1825, is one of the oldest in the Senate. Our hearing room, which we will use in the future, is unique in that we don't have a dais but a table. We sit across from each other, not away from each other, symbolic and practical. I look forward to convening many meetings in Russell 328 in the coming years for us to work together and address the concerns of our farmers and ranchers and rural communities and those needing assistance. As the Chairman, my door is open to every member of this committee.

The fundamental purpose of our committee is to solve problems and help our citizens. I welcome you to share your ideas, concerns, and your solutions. Agriculture is not partisan. We all care about our nation's farmers and ranchers. The state of rural America concerns us all. We all believe that no American should be hungry. I intend for this committee to be highly productive in the 119th Congress. Working together, this year we will pass a farm bill that will meet the needs of our farmers for today and for the future.

This morning, we convene to consider the nomination of Brooke Leslie Rollins of Texas to be the Secretary of Agriculture. Ms. Rollins, congratulations to you on your nomination. You've been nominated at a very challenging time for America's farmers. The cost for fuel, seed, and fertilizer remain high. Interest rates are also very high and continue to be high. Farmgate prices are low. Farmers everywhere are losing money on every acre they cultivate, while farmers in certain parts of the country are losing hundreds of dollars per acre. Thankfully, Congress responded at the end of last year and provided a bridge to help ensure producers could plan again this year. Delivering this economic assistance to our farmers will be one of the major tasks you will be faced with as Secretary. But as I mentioned, this was only a bridge. It was necessary because the safety net our producers have counted on in the past no longer works.

I look forward to working with my colleagues in this room, across the Senate, and with you to help create a farm bill that meets the realities of modern-day agriculture. Beyond the economic strains our farmers and ranchers feel, I believe our producers want an improved relationship with USDA. They want to know USDA has their back and is helping them with the tools and support needed to successfully and profitably farm and ranch, rather than coercing them into production practices that don't work for their operations. They want new markets and new opportunities to sell what they produce. They want conservation programs to help with the issues they are facing on their farms. They want rural communities to have the infrastructure and the resources for a high quality of life. USDA, with the right leadership, can do all of these things.

Beyond agriculture production, USDA is a land manager, research institution, food regulator, protector of animal health, and rural lender. There is very little USDA doesn't touch or have an impact on. All of these resources and abilities can be used to improve the quality of life not only in rural America but all of America. As I've met and talked with Ms. Rollins, it is clear the needs of American farmers, ranchers, and rural communities will be her focus. It's also clear she has the relationships across the new administration and an understanding of the processes in which decisions are made in the executive branch to best position our producers for success. I look forward to seeing her bring her considerable skills and her abilities to bear at USDA for the benefit of farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.

I now recognize Ranking Member Klobuchar for her statement.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And we welcome, Ms. Rollins, thank you, your entire family that seems to take up like 10 rows, as well as the FFA, your FFA officers, and your teacher. So, I want to thank Chairman Thune for holding this important nomination hearing. Thank you to our colleagues from Texas who are here. Senator Thune and I have been friends and colleagues for years, and as you noted, you came to visit my state. We didn't consider that cold that day in May; we considered it a beach day with a touch of snow. And I want to thank you for visiting with our farmers and our ranchers and our conservation and nutrition leaders in our state.

I also look forward to working with you to be a voice for rural America. All of our colleagues on this committee are incredible voices for rural America. I'm really excited. I've told our Democratic leaders on this committee how excited I am about the people that are on this committee, and I believe we're going to work really well together. I want to mention our friend and colleague, Senator Stabenow, for her 14 years of leadership of this committee. She's now retired from this committee, but whether it was passing farm bills, standing up for conservation programs, or making sure there was food on the table, she was always at the forefront of the fight.

I'd like to thank all of our returning members, as well as the new Senators on the committee that Senator Thune mentioned, Senators Sinema and Schiff. They've been already really strong participants in all of these discussions we've been having, and Senator Moran, as well as Senator Jones. Thank you. We're looking forward to continuing the strong tradition of bipartisanship. Ms. Rollins, again, thank you for being here. I enjoyed our previous discussions and I look forward to the hearing today and hearing from you about your plans for the future. I know you and your family—I just talked to your mom about it—have had a farm in Minnesota for years, and I hope you will be visiting our state again soon.

As you know, the Secretary of Agriculture is a voice for rural America within the President's cabinet. If rural America is going to prosper, it will be important to have a Secretary who will address the challenges facing farmers and rural families, who sees the importance of nutrition and conservation, and who will work with us on a strong, bipartisan farm bill. We on this committee have made progress on so many fronts, from strengthening crop insurance to improving voluntary conservation programs to the good work we have done on biofuels across the aisle. But there are still numerous challenges facing American farmers: avian flu, struggling dairy producers, flooding, droughts, wildfires, as Senator Schiff well knows, scarcity at food shelves, and the lack of housing, child care, and health care facilities in rural America.

As we discussed, I have concerns about some of the proposed policies from the administration. And while I have always supported targeted tariffs, I'm concerned that major, across-the-board tariff increases could hurt rural America. I hope that if confirmed, Ms. Rollins will make the case for sensible trade policy that will work for our farmers and rural America. We also need leaders of the USDA that believe in science and research, which is so critical right now. I know many of our members will be asking on that front. As Ranking Member of this committee, I'm committed to doing what's right for rural America, which means finding common ground when we can, but standing our ground where we must.

In Minnesota, our prosperity depends on the strength and vitality of our rural communities. Farmers and livestock producers need access to safety net programs, with weather conditions threatening all the time, input costs, and the like. And rural businesses can't spur innovation and create jobs without an available workforce, which I think is going to be an issue we'll be confronting this year, as well as child care, health care, housing, and broadband. I know this is true not just for me, but for all members of this committee, and I look forward to the hearing today and to learning more about Ms. Rollins' your plans for the Department of Agriculture. Thank you very much. And thank you to our colleagues today. We have been joined by our colleagues from Texas to introduce our nominee. Thank you all for being here. Senator Cornyn, will you please proceed?

Thank you, Chairman Thune, and Ranking Member Klobuchar, members of the Agriculture Committee. I'm delighted to be here along with my colleague Senator Cruz to introduce our friend, Brooke Rollins, to be the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This one is a no-brainer. Everybody who knows Brooke Rollins loves Brooke Rollins, and you will too, once you get to know her. I first met Brooke years ago when serving in state government in Texas, but it was when she was the Policy Director for then-Governor Rick Perry that I began to see what a truly dedicated public servant she was and still is. Since this time, as you know from reading her resume, you know she's had quite an impressive career, and so I'm delighted to be here today to help introduce her.

She was born and raised, as was pointed out, in Glenrose, Texas. For those of you who haven't pulled out your map to see where that is, it's about an hour southwest of Fort Worth. And so she brings firsthand experience of the often difficult realities of farm life into the Department of Agriculture. She graduated from Texas A&M's School of Agriculture, Leadership, Education, and Communications. I thought I heard a whoop somewhere. Texas is home to nearly 230,000 farms and ranches, more than any other state in the country, and one in every seven Texans works in an agriculture-related job. This is critical to our state and to the nation, as has been pointed out. Brooke's agricultural roots will serve her well as Secretary of Agriculture to give farmers and producers from the Lone Star State and across the country a clarion voice when it comes to President Trump's cabinet.

But Ms. Rollins' credentials go way beyond the day-to-day intricacies of farming. She's also a University of Texas Law School graduate and a policy wonk. She will confess to that during this hearing today, and that's demonstrated by her years of service as General Counsel to Governor Perry and her 15 years leading one of Texas's premier policy institutes, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. And it was during President Trump's first administration, she served as Director of the Domestic Policy Council. Many of us worked with her closely there, where she assisted Jared Kushner in that job. And you know that position is responsible for coordinating the domestic policy making of the White House and ensuring the decisions and programs are consistent with the President's goals and overseeing the implementation of the President's domestic policy agenda. Since her time in the first Trump administration, Brooke has served as President and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, where she helped craft the agenda for President Trump's second term. I've worked with Brooke in a number of roles and seen her as she's helped advance bipartisan legislation both in Austin and here in the nation's capital, and I know she will bring that experience and that temperament to her job at USDA.

It's a good thing because she has her job cut out for her. First, Congress has failed to pass a five-year farm bill, and I know that's priority number one for this committee, so she'll have an opportunity to work with each of you to shape this critical legislation that farmers and ranchers across the country depend on. And as has been alluded to, I think by Senator Klobuchar, the disasters that we've experienced throughout the country have hit farm country particularly hard, and I know she will work hard with you and all of us to make sure we provide an essential lifeline to our farmers and ranchers. As Coach Tuberville knows, the Texas A&M football team, of which Brooke is a devoted fan, says their student body is the 12th Man who propels them to victory. I know Brooke is honored to step up now and become the 12th Woman for the farmers and ranchers of America. I'm looking forward to working with her and with all of you to pass a farm bill and put farmers back where they deserve to be, and that is first and foremost in our policy deliberations. And I have no doubt that Brooke is exactly the person for the job to implement President Trump's agenda at USDA. So it's my honor to be here with all of you, our family, and multitude of friends, even our high school teacher is here. Everybody who knows Brooke loves Brooke, and I know you will too as you get to know her. So thank you for allowing me to be here and say a few words by way of introduction.

Thank you, Senator Cornyn. Senator Cruz, thank you. Thank you, Chairman Thune. Thank you, Ranking Member Klobuchar. Members of the committee. Let me start by saying what Senator Cornyn said a minute ago is absolutely right. This is a no-brainer. Brooke Rollins, as a nominee to be Secretary of Agriculture, is an extraordinary choice, and I have absolute confidence that every member of this committee is going to be very, very happy working with her in that role in the next four years. I've been friends with Brooke for over two decades, from when she was Policy Director for then-Governor Rick Perry, to when she led the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which became the preeminent free-market state foundation in the country, to when she came to Washington to join President Trump to lead the Domestic Policy Council, to her more recent years leading the America First Policy Institute. At every stage, she's proven herself to be a leader. She's proven herself to be an innovative policy thinker, and she's proven herself able to bring people together to accomplish major objectives. All of those skills will serve her and the farmers and ranchers of America exceptionally well.

To know Brooke is to know she's an Aggie, and all Aggies are members of a cult, which I say from a place of deep love. But I am convinced if you were to cut Brooke's hand right here, it would not bleed red, but it would bleed maroon onto this table. She brings that ferocity to everything she does. She brings creativity. She brings joy. Brooke is always smiling, and she's smiling because she has a vision of where to take us. She grew up in a small agricultural community, Glenrose, Texas. Her summers were spent at her family's Minnesota farm, helping with the corn, potato, and soybean crops. And I have to say, Brooke, the level of foresight to kiss up to the Ranking Member as a young child is impressive. Her experience in barrel racing—and by the way, for everyone who knows barrel racers, yes, they're crazy—and raising livestock for 4-H and Future Farmers of America instilled in her a profound appreciation for the challenges and rewards of life. Life in agriculture.

Farmers and ranchers in America right now are facing extraordinary challenges, challenges that are putting their livelihood at risk, putting their families at risk, putting the ability to provide food and fiber and clothing for the American people at genuine risk. Farmers and ranchers of this nation, the farmers and ranchers in the great state of Texas, are looking to this committee for leadership, and they're looking to the next Secretary of Agriculture for leadership. In Texas, and South Texas, we face historic droughts, and yet our neighbor, the nation of Mexico, is in brazen violation of the 1944 water treaty that obligates it to provide water each year to the people of South Texas. I have no doubt that soon-to-be Secretary Rollins will be a ferocious advocate for those South Texas farmers, just as she is a ferocious advocate for farmers and ranchers in every one of your states and all across the country. She's going to be an extraordinary and even historic Secretary of Agriculture, and I'm proud to join John Cornyn in supporting my friend, Brooke Rollins, and I encourage you to do the same. Thank you.

Senator Cruz, again, thank you, Senator Cornyn, for being here. I'd now like to recognize our nominee, Senator Brooke Rollins, to introduce some of our guests before I administer the oath and she gives her opening statement.

Good morning. Good morning, everyone. What a joy to be here and, wow, a little surreal and slightly overwhelming. The two gentlemen that were sitting up here, whom I've known, as they mentioned, for a long time. So I want to thank them. A few guests, and I appreciate Senator Thune the opportunity to introduce them. My awesome Mom right here, whose new issue, that all of you know, the oldest freshman legislator in Texas history, Helen Korbyn. Raised my sisters and me by herself in that small town, and "Ag" is her big issue. So I know a lot of you are certainly concerned with that. My incredible husband, Mark Rollins. We met the first week of our freshman year at Texas A&M, Senator Tuberville, in 1990, 35 years ago. And our four incredible children, Luke, Jake, Anna, and Lily, are here with me. Luke, the oldest, Luke, raise your hand. Listen to your mother. Very good. He is a sophomore at Texas A&M University in the Corps of Cadets and, in fact, left College Station at 1:30 last night, 1:30 a.m., to drive all night, catch a flight in Dallas, and be here this morning. So especially grateful to him. And my other incredible children, even though they're all teenagers, Luke's 20, it has been the joy and most important part of my life being their mom. So what a joy to have them. My sister Anne Blener, my sister Helen Hubert, Eliza, my niece. They're all here. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Tim and Elizabeth Yagi. My incredible Ag teacher, who I would like to stand up. This is Mr. Gary Rosenbusch, who put up with a lot from this FFA. I've often said that the Future Farmers of America changed my life and put me on a course that frankly leads me to today. So Mr. Rosenbusch was a big part of that. Also want to recognize, a lot of people know that I take great pride in my short, but I think very successful, life as a little league softball coach. So my daughter Lily was the catcher on the team, but most of the rest of the team also flew in last night, the Hot Tamales, everyone from Texas are here. Thank you, guys, for being here. My 1990-1991 State FFA Officer team from all parts of Texas. There were 10 of us. The other nine all came, teachers, insurance agents, workers of the land. They're all here. And so what a joy to have my State FFA Officer team here as well. If y'all want to stand, what an incredible inspiration. I know, Senator, I could go on and on. I'm going to, I promise, I'm going to cut this short. But one other thing, one other person, Pastor Jensen Franklin of Georgia, who has been such an inspiration to me, flew all the way in from Free Chapel in Georgia to pray with my family and I this morning. So Pastor Franklin, I want to thank you as well. One of the great pastors of our time. Pastor, thank you. I have so many Texas friends, other family that are here, but I'll wrap it there and just say, what an incredible honor to have all of them behind me today.

No, that's great. That's wonderful. Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the statement that you're about to provide is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

Do you agree that if confirmed, you will respond to requests to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the Senate?

I do.

Again, congratulations on your nomination. You may have a seat, and you're recognized for five minutes to give your opening statement.

Thank you, Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Klobuchar, and distinguished members of this committee. First, my thanks to President Donald Trump for his faith in me to lead the United States Department of Agriculture. His confidence fuels my determination to deliver. I also want to thank my dear friends and fellow Texans, Senators Cornyn and Cruz, for so graciously introducing me to this committee. I also, obviously, want to extend my sincere thanks to all of you, the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, for your careful consideration of my nomination. And understand, and perhaps most importantly, I want to thank, and I'm so overwhelmed at the honor to potentially serve the men and women who daily, without pause or complaint, provide our great nation and the world with the best food, fiber, and fuel.

Throughout the past several weeks, I have met or spoken with every Republican and Democrat Senator on this committee, and I appreciate your insights, your concerns, and your very wise counsel. It is clear we all agree that farmers and ranchers are the cornerstone of our nation's communities, and I commit to you today that if confirmed, I will do everything in my ability to make sure our farmers, ranchers, and rural communities thrive. I also want to thank the many senators and representatives on Capitol Hill with whom I've had the incredible opportunity to work with these last two decades during my career in public policy, in my time first with Governor Rick Perry, then leading the Texas Public Policy Foundation, in my various roles in the Trump administration, the first one, and since 2021 in my role founding and leading the America First Policy Institute. Each of you cares deeply about the American people whom we all serve, and I promise my work will reflect that commitment.

Growing up in the small Ag town of Glenrose, Texas—y'all have heard this, population then 1,200 people—is where my story begins. Then my world revolved around the Future Farmers of America, 4-H, and the endless cycle of bailing hay, livestock shows, and rodeos that still today constitute the calendar of our small corner of Texas. That experience sent me to Texas A&M on an agriculture scholarship, where I studied and majored in Leadership and Development, then on to the University of Texas Law School, where I graduated with honors and performed a federal judicial clerkship, and then, of course, to helm the policy shop of Texas Governor Rick Perry. It was there that I had my first direct leadership role in big state Ag policy. I had been in office serving Governor Rick Perry for two-plus years when I received a call from a small think tank of two or three staffers in San Antonio. I asked if I would be interested in being their new leader, and I answered that call as well, thinking that my husband and I built our family, that that would be helpful and a good potential opportunity to be a great mom but also continue the fight for Texas. At TPPF, over the next 15 years, we fundamentally redefined the mission of a think tank from just having ideas or writing about them in white papers to actually effectually changing policy for the people of our state. We engaged strongly during those 15 years with Texas rural and small-town communities, giving them a voice in government that was too often denied. In short, we changed the game in Texas.

Changing the game is exactly why I accepted the invitation to join President Trump's first administration at the beginning of 2018. Everything that we had sought to do in Texas these last decades to make policy for real change for real Texans was being done in the first Trump administration, and I was so honored and excited to be part of it. I joined first the White House Office of American Innovation as its leader. I then soon became the Assistant to the President in addition on strategic initiatives and eventually added the role of the Director of the Domestic Policy Council. In January 2021, exactly four years ago, we understood that President Trump's second term agenda would be delayed, so I had the privilege and the idea of establishing yet another institution of policy leadership, and the America First Policy Institute was born. I currently serve as the President and CEO there.

Thanks to President Trump and to all of you, I hope to have the opportunity to bring that level of passion and commitment to the USDA. I need not tell you, of all people, that this is surpassingly important because agriculture is surpassingly important to us as a nation. All Americans are important, but the farmer, the worker of the land who feeds all the others, is amongst the most notable. Thomas Jefferson wrote that agriculture is our wisest pursuit because it will—excuse me, I don't want to get Thomas Jefferson's quote wrong. Can't misquote Thomas Jefferson, because it will, in the end, contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness. And his wisdom holds true today.

I fully recognize that if I am confirmed, I am stepping into the role during one of the most economically challenging times in American agriculture history. With that in mind, I want to share with you, as I close, my top priorities for day one and then perhaps a longer-term priority. First, we must ensure that the disaster and economic assistance authorized by Congress is deployed as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Second, we must work with the great men and women of USDA, the stakeholder communities, and state leaders—my deep background in state policy—to immediately and comprehensively get a handle on the state of animal disease outbreaks. Third, we must immediately begin to modernize, realign, rethink the United States Department of Agriculture, responding to the clear needs and the desires of the American people as set forth so well by the President of the United States over this last historic week. And finally, and longer term, we understand that serving all American agriculture and all the American people means ensuring that our rural communities are equipped and supported to prosper, not just today, but tomorrow and the day after that, in the many tomorrows to come. This includes exploring improvements to our rural development programs, demanding strong and steady domestic and export markets for our beautiful agricultural bounty, eliminating burdensome and costly regulations that hamper innovation, ensuring our nutrition programs are effective and efficient, and putting in the work to make sure we have a healthy and prepared next generation of farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, innovators, and indeed, all Americans. This is what we need for the next century of American greatness. These are just four of my top priorities. Beyond these, I am dedicated and committed to providing all of you with the timely technical assistance that we will need to ensure that we have a farm bill that moves forward. My aim, after all, is the same as yours, the same that brought you to the Senate, the same that brought Donald J. Trump to the presidency again, and that is to serve the people and this great country. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator. And thank you, Ranking Member Klobuchar, for your opening statement. As is customary, my colleagues and I would like to ask you some questions. Each Senator will have seven minutes to ask questions during this first round. If we need an additional round, that will be five minutes. Before I ask my questions, I'd like to add a number of letters in support of Ms. Rollins' nomination into the record. In particular, I would like to highlight one letter signed by the Farm Bureau, the Farmers Union, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and more than 400 other agricultural organizations supporting Ms. Rollins' nomination, without objection.

So, in your written statement, again, you alluded to, and in the testimony that you just provided, you talked about your focus, you know, some of the things you want to. Can you expand on that a little bit more? The first 100 days, what can we expect?

I think the first 100 days, sir, if I am so fortunate to be confirmed, will be a fast and furious effort to ensure that we move that economic aid out. In fact, when I got the call from the President about this particular position, it was the honor of a lifetime to accept that call and to accept the nomination. But then about five minutes later, I started thinking about, okay, what do I do to make this successful and perhaps the best, most effective, efficient United States Department of Agriculture in history since President Lincoln first launched this department? The aid to the farmers, top priority. Animal disease, top priority. Ensuring that we begin to move toward President Trump's vision. I work for him; I am his cabinet member, but also working alongside all of you. And so many of the conversations that we all had over the last four to six weeks from both sides of the aisle, from both Republicans and Democrats, were very encouraging to me. I believe that there is an opportunity. While there will be moments of disagreement, I have no doubt that there will also be many, many moments of agreement. So, Chairman Thune, my thought is that we get in there, and anyone that knows me and that has worked with me over the course of all these years knows that excellence is not only the goal but the expectation. That we move with rapid speed to ensure it gets done, that we work 24 hours a day, seven days a week for our constituents, which is American agriculture, and that at the end of the day, this country and that community is thriving in a way perhaps they never have before because of the work and the foresight and the goals and the vision that I think is so important.

Good. I appreciate you, you know, on several occasions, bringing up the disaster assistance. This committee worked in a very bipartisan way to get that done. It was a big effort, and it took a lot of work, and again, we were able to get that done in a very bipartisan way. But that's what we've heard about from our farmers now is, thank you for doing it, but we desperately need it so that we can talk to our bankers and try and figure things out from this last year where most farmers lost a lot of money, their path forward. So again, that, I think, is music to all of our ears.

Trade is vitally important to American agriculture. Our abundant yields and high-quality crops help feed the world. Can you please describe how the President's trade agenda will prioritize the needs of American farmers and ranchers? If our trading partners unfairly target U.S. agriculture producers, how will the administration minimize the impact to our producers?

Thank you, Senator. And I'm actually glad this is at the top of the next few hours because I think it is on the mind of every member of this committee and perhaps every member of the Ag community across this great nation. The first thing I think that's important to note is in the last few years, we have almost a $45 billion trade deficit for our Ag products. So a key priority will be expanding access to these markets across the country. We've already been sort of vision boarding, not to get ahead of the process, but I want to make sure I'm able to hit the ground running on how it is we begin to immediately effectuate bringing down that $45 billion trade deficit. And just, it's just up 42% in the last year. There is a deep recognition that corn prices are down 35% just in the last year as well, past two years, I'm sorry. And that, in fact, our farmers are hurting. Regarding the President's tariff agenda, I think it probably comes as no surprise to anyone sitting in this room that he believes it is a very important tool in his toolkit to continue or bring America back to the forefront of the world and to ensure that we have a thriving economy. But just as he did, and we did in the first administration, he also understands the potential devastating impact to our farmers and our ranchers. And during that time, I have spoken with Secretary Purdue a few times on how that was managed into that team. So I fully understand, and that we are prepared to execute something similar if approved, if confirmed, but also working with the White House to ensure that we can close those holes for our farmers and ranchers moving forward under any sort of tariff execution in the next coming days, in the next few years. And that will be a top priority of mine.

Very good. Hunger is an issue that we continue to face. My home state of Arkansas has the highest rate of food insecurity in the nation. At USDA, you will be responsible for leading 16 nutrition programs that assist one in four Americans. These programs make up the vast majority of the spending at the department. In spite of these programs, which have grown substantially over the last 20 years, the national food insecurity rate has hovered around 12% since 2001, even during times of economic prosperity. The goal of these programs is to provide temporary assistance to those in need, but the focus on moving families to a place of economic independence has been lost. Will you commit to reviewing these programs to ensure they help incentivize Americans to secure steady employment while still being able to trust that their federal supplemental assistance can be relied on in times of need?

Senator, I so appreciate your concern and focus on this incredibly important program. I think sometimes people on our side of the aisle are framed as those that don't care as much about the kids or those who are hurting, those from disadvantaged communities. I know I have spent my career working to ensure that every corner of America, that everyone has a shot at the American dream, first with Rick Perry, then with my think tank, then with President Trump, then with the AFPI, the American First Policy Group. And so I too have a real heart for this work, and I've talked to many of you about that in your offices. That's perhaps driven by being raised in a small town by a single mom, and we didn't have much. Now, we never participated in the nutrition program, but I am fully aware and have a heart for this work and for this community. That's why I can make the commitment to ensure that we are doing everything we can that this supplemental program continues on a course of being effective and efficient. Having said that, it's also imperative to us that every taxpayer dollar that is spent in support of these programs, we fully understand that it is reaching its intended recipient, that that recipient is able to use it effectively and efficiently for true nutrition reasons, that we have a real health issue in this country. You all know this. I think four out of five children are facing obesity or close to it. The level of diabetes and chronic diseases continue to rise. So we, together, and myself, if so fortunate to be confirmed, will have a major role in all of the above, ensuring that these programs are serving those who need them and doing it effectively, but also ensuring that the taxpayers are being well served, that the dollar that we take from, you know, my electrician in Fort Worth, who has his own small business, and then sending it to a family in need, that that dollar is being used in the best and most effective way. So that is certainly my commitment to you.

Thank you, Senator Klobuchar.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Again, welcome, Ms. Rollins. As we both noted, the Chairman and I, this committee has worked together, and all the members know this, on a bipartisan way to pass farm bills in the past, improve the farm safety net, stand up for conservation, nutrition, food security. Will you be a force for working with both sides of the aisle?

Thank you so much, Senator Klobuchar, for that question, and it is exceedingly important to me that we deliver for American farmers and ranchers, exceedingly. And I have already begun to lose some sleep over how to make that happen in a way that is productive in supporting your work. And I have a long history of working in a bipartisan manner. It may not be at the forefront of my bio or my resume, but I worked with many of you in the last administration on the First Step Act, which I believe was perhaps the hallmark of President Trump 1.0 in bipartisan work together. I sat in an office for many hours with Senators Durbin, Grassley, Booker, Scott, and many others from both sides as we hammered out how to solve the criminal justice challenges that our Bureau of Prisons is facing. And I hope to bring that same skill set and perhaps knowledge base and relationships to this effort as well.

Thank you. I appreciated you mentioned animal disease as one of your lead priorities, as well as the disaster economic assistance. As you know, and you and I discussed, since 2022, the most recent outbreak of avian flu has devastated poultry producers, spread to dairy cattle, resulted in at least one death. But we're starting to see increases in certain prices attributed to that. If confirmed, how will you ensure that farmers have the resources they need to combat the spread of this virus? What is your plan there?

There is no doubt that what the community, and whom we all work for, that community, not just America, but the entire world relies on for an abundant, safe, and secure food supply. And just learning of the devastation in Georgia just over the last few weeks with the poultry outbreak and the depopulation there of our poultry, of course, to your point about dairy, it's been infecting some of the dairy herds, I believe, across 16 states. There is a lot that I have to learn on this, and if confirmed, this will be, as I mentioned in my opening statement, one of the very top priorities. We are hyper-focused on finding the team right now. I'm sure they're already working. I have, obviously, respected the process and not gotten too involved, but I know that the current team and the future team will be working hand-in-hand to do everything we can on animal disease. And Senator, if I may add one more thing, my deep background working in state policy included working very closely with governor's offices and Ag Commissioners across this great country. In fact, in the last White House, I sort of took it upon myself, which is where I met a few of our governors who are now here, to work closely and in concert and aligned with both Republican and Democrat leaders.

I really appreciate that. We have seven minutes. I'm going to go a little quicker here. I will note that just yesterday, the administration announced they will halt external public health communications from the CDC on these avian flu animal diseases. And these important announcements have helped keep producers up to date with the latest information on disease spread, health of workers. And while I know that wasn't under the USDA, I just urge you to talk to them about that concern.

Biofuels, and I appreciated our discussion on that. While you served as the CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, your organization was often critical of biofuels, including ethanol. And as you know, we have worked really hard to make this so we don't just have one fuel, that we have options here, including with Senators Ernst, Senator Fischer, Senator Grassley, Senator Thune, many others. What role do you believe biofuels play in our domestic energy production? How will you continue to promote the production of these fuels as Secretary?

Thank you, and I appreciate you bringing that up. It's my understanding that those reports were written over a decade ago. I haven't seen anything more recent. The Texas Public Policy Foundation puts out almost 900 to 1,000 pieces of content a year. I did not author that specific piece. But to be clear, there's no doubt coming from Texas. I was a massive defender of fossil fuels and the importance of fossil fuels in the energy independence and energy dominance narrative. Clearly, I've spoken with so many of you on both sides of the aisle on this issue. I will be a Secretary for all agriculture. It is really important to me that we continue to defend and elevate and honor all sources of fuel. My former boss and current boss, in his current energy dominance plan, included biofuels as an important piece of his agenda. I really look forward to continuing that.

And I know your family, based on the forms, I appreciate you getting us those forms, that your family has significant financial interest in the oil industry. Will these interests motivate decisions you make at the department, especially when they impact your family's financial holdings?

Senator, I can promise you this, and I know you and I have met a few times through the years. I've had more in-depth discussions, but not as many as I would like, hopefully a lot more in the future. But I can promise you this: anyone that has ever worked with me will tell you, even to the detriment of organizations I have run, detriment financially to my potential family, that I have never, not ever, made a decision based on financial interest, ever. And that certainly will not begin now.

Thank you. You discussed briefly with Senator Thune the export market. I also appreciated you mentioned that in your long-term focus on exports. And as you know, during the first Trump administration, we heard resounding calls from farmers that they want trade, not aid, their exact words, I'm remembering. They want to grow their market and not just get government payment. We've worked hard on this committee to help farmers build markets here and abroad. Senator Hoeven and I have set up a Rural Export Center, in fact. And Ms. Rollins, how would you work with President Trump, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and others within the administration to ensure that they understand the effects of potential retaliatory tariffs on American farmers? And how will you help them manage this risk, and beyond just getting extra payments to make up for it, will you be a voice to make sure people understand the importance of exports for rural America, and it's not just farming, it's also manufacturing and the like?

No, that's that's that's correct. The extraordinary value that I potentially bring to this table is having served in the last White House for three years right alongside President Trump. I believe I may be the most well-versed in how the interagency process works of all the cabinet, of how the interagency process works, of how the discussions are handled, of what the Oval Office meetings look like, and how to ensure that at every corner that my team, our community, that what we all represent together is at the table fighting for what we believe is necessary for these communities.

Okay, thank you. And I have some important questions for the second round here on conservation and nutrition, and I know my colleagues will be asking them as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator McConnell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Congratulations on your nomination. I appreciate you coming by the office. I had a chance to tell you then that Kentucky agriculture is a little different. We have 75,000 farms, but most of them are small. We're also the number one beef cattle state east of the Mississippi. People don't generally associate Kentucky with that. I want to echo what others here have said about trade. I went over to the Trade Representative on the floor of the House.

We were there for the, um, big speech, and I introduced myself. And I said, "Do you have anything to do?" And she basically, um, didn't have an answer. It seems to me that trade has sort of become a word for a lot of Americans that implies exportation of jobs. In Kentucky, we think of trade as exportation of products, and it's an extremely important part of what we do. Um, I think both of the candidates in the last election sort of shied away from this issue.

U, as others have said, give us some hope that maybe we can get back in the, uh, in the trade business. Uh, we would need trade promotion authority, which we currently don't have. But I'd be interested in your thoughts further about this.

Yeah, thank you, Senator McConnell. And it was, it was an honor to be in your office. Talk a little bit about Kentucky bourbon, uh, and a few other, uh, a few other important things. It's the first time I've ever heard, I think, anyone say that President Trump has shied away from anything. Uh, I don't, uh, specifically have or recall anything specific about, uh, him not talking about trade, other than perhaps to your point that our country, and especially our, uh, community, is in a tough spot right now with regards to exports and moving, moving our products out. I know that the USMCA is back up for negotiation, along with other trade agreements. And here's what I am very encouraged about, Senator, and I hope it perhaps gives you some encouragement as well. In my now almost nine years, maybe eight years with President Trump, at the end of the day, we all know him to be the consummate deal-maker. And I believe that that skill and that intense focus on making deals for his people, uh, not only for America, but for the, uh, community that supported him at 90% since really the very, very beginning. I think 338 counties out of 344 agriculture counties voted for him. He knows that these are the people that have been with him the longest. And I sincerely believe that if I do my job, and in working with all of you to ensure that the White House and that our partners across the, uh, agencies have all of the data that they need, while at the same time we're working across the world to bring in new trade partners, to expand access, uh, for new trade products, and for all, whether it's the specialty crops or the row crops or the, the livestock industry, I believe, as the President mentioned in his inaugural address, that we're embarking on a golden age, and I also believe this is going to be a very, very big part of that.

Okay, I want to shift to something Kentucky specific that we discussed in the office. I want to bring it up again. Back in 2020, through the Appropriations process, I managed to allocate $65 million for an Agricultural Research Service Lab at the Kentucky College of Agriculture. That was four or five years ago. Nothing's happened yet. So what did happen? Well, there were a number of different regulatory tripwires that got injected into the process. And in meeting those, trying to meet those regulatory tripwires, slowed everything down, everything down, everything down. I want to see construction begin. The money is there. What can you tell me to give me hope?

We did discuss this, and, and again, another passion of mine that has been mentioned is my love for Texas A&M, uh, in the, uh, school and the research facilities. Uh, I am really excited to get knee-deep, waist-deep, neck-deep in these facilities across the country. And I know we also had discussions with some of the other Senators on this committee that they have some similar concerns with some different facilities that they would like to see move a lot more quickly. Senator McConnell, I, um, commit to you that we will immediately begin digging in on what is happening. One, a big part of my portfolio in the last Administration was the President's deregulation agenda, and understanding how certain regulations and rules hampered, uh, important projects from moving forward and opening up markets, etcetera. So I actually believe that the right team in place, and with your quick confirmation of some of those undersecretaries, that we'll be able to dig in, figure out what's happening, work with you and others from Kentucky to figure out what's going on, and, and figure out how to move this forward.

Finally, I would just say the, uh, previous administration was big on regulations across the board. I think they all ought to be looked at in terms of the impact on the economy, and I think that's what the new Administration intends to do.

Thank you. Thank you, Senator. I agree with that and look forward to working with you and others on that.

Senator Bennett, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I, I want to thank you and the ranking member for your opening statements. Both of you, uh, together, I think capture the spirit of what this committee is supposed to be about in a Congress where we have not worked well together. And I just want to say how much I appreciate your leadership, uh, uh, uh, today. So the two of you, and thanks also for mentioning Chairman Stabenau, who did a great job here for a long period of time. Mrs. Rollin, congratulations to you. You mentioned in, in your answer just now to Senator McConnell, this is actually not a question that I was going to ask, but since you mentioned him, you said, "We all recognize agriculture is in a tough place when it comes to exports." Could you, we do all recognize that? Could you elaborate more on that? We'd love to hear your perspective on the hole that many of us feel that we're in right now, uh, as we get ready to think about what the trade policies are going to be of this Administration and, and of the country.

Thank you, Senator Bennett. Of course, and loved our conversation about your beautiful Colorado. Thank you. Um, come, come back anytime. I would welcome that. Uh, we do spend some time there in the summers, as good Texans do, getting out of the heat. But I'll look forward to to seeing you next time. Uh, in the last handful of years, we've gone from not having a trade deficit in our agricultural communities to having a $45 billion trade deficit. Of course, that has led to many challenges, including food inflation. And I know when I've heard President Trump talk about his priorities, the first is the border, which I'm guessing we'll get into at some point. But second was food inflation. And so there are many tools in our toolkit, both through USDA and, and expanding markets, uh, which are all intertwined to begin immediately to work to bring that deficit down and hopefully soon get it to zero. My commitment is, I would say, yes, sir, that deficit. We know it's being caused by a strong dollar. It's being caused by competition from Brazil. It's being caused by limitations on our, on our beef supply. It's being caused by, you know, prices that are going up. I mean, this is a, this is, these are, I don't think these particularly are failures in trade policy. It's making it harder for us to export, which is what Senator McConnell's concern was, which I share. And I think that all of us understand. And actually, I will say, there are many ways in which I'm sympathetic to, um, some of the trade policies that President Trump is trying to, uh, advocate for. But, um, agriculture is already in a tough spot for those reasons, I think, largely. And we don't want it to be in a tougher spot as a result of what happens here. And I think, you know, when you were in my office, you talked a little bit, and this is going to be the easiest question that you get, but I, and I hope you'll only take 15 seconds to answer so I can go on to the next step. Yes, sir. Is, you know, what is your responsibility as the Secretary of Agriculture to go into the Oval Office and say, you haven't thought through, um, the unintended consequences that are going to flow to American agriculture if you pursue these trade policies?

Senator, in 15 seconds, my role is to defend, to honor, to elevate our entire agriculture community in the Oval Office, around the table, through the interagency process, and to ensure that every decision that is made in the coming four years has that front of mind as those decisions are being made. And I, I agree also with what Senator Klobuchar said, is that what we've heard from our farmers and ranchers over and over again is they want to, they want to be able to do the work. They want to be able to export. They don't want to solve this problem by getting, you know, aid to make up for what they should have been able to send to Asia and other kinds of places. The only growth that my farmers and ranchers can see in the foreseeable future, which is to say their lifetimes, is by growing our exports of agriculture. So I appreciate your understanding that, and we're counting on you, if you're in this job, to be that advocate.

We also had the chance when you were in my office to talk a little bit about something that, you know, I, I've had focused on here the entire time I've been on this committee, which is the state of our national forests throughout the American West. As you know, and I know you know this, they're incredibly important, uh, to us because every single community that we have, no matter how big or no matter how small, every single farm and ranch that we have is downstream from, um, these snowpacks and downstream from these, uh, national forests. And the condition of these national forests, and they're national forests for a reason, you know, they are national forests. The condition is just untenable and dangerous. You know, I've told Chuck Schumer, he doesn't necessarily agree with me, but I've told him over and over again that these forests are more important infrastructure from our perspective than the Lincoln Tunnel is to New York. If the Lincoln Tunnel is closed, there are other things you can do. Um, he may not agree with that. But if we lose our water, we lose everything in the West. And, um, we are Coloradans are watching what's going on now in California, Senator Schiff, with broken hearts because of what is happening there. We've seen it happen at a much smaller scale, but still universal, uh, uh, in, in our, in our state with things like the Marshall fire. So I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the importance of these national forests, how you think about the stewardship here, you whether or not we should be considering the fact that if we wait to fight these fires, it costs $50,000 an acre to fight them, whereas if we do the work on the front end, putting people to work in our national forests, it can cost $1,400 an acre to do it. We, I'd love to hear your perspective on that.

Senator, I am so glad you brought this up. And I believe, and Senator Schiff and I spoke about this obviously in his office a week or two ago as they were facing, um, unimaginable, uh, experience in California. And, and I am really excited to tackle this problem. I don't pretend to even know the beginnings of it. I've just started studying it. But it seems to me, and after speaking with you and others on the committee and beginning to learn, first of all, I think we have a great undersecretary identified and announced. The quicker we can get him confirmed, uh, the quicker we can really begin this hard work ahead. And I, my husband's family owns a, a little cabin right on the edge of a national forest in Gunnison, Colorado. So I too have spent about the last 25 years, uh, enjoying the national forests and, and the extraordinary beauty that they bring to our people. But the water, uh, is a massive issue. And you and I talked about that. 40 million people depend on the water that is under your land in Colorado. And I do believe, and maybe people call me a pathological optimist, but maybe the pathological optimist in me sincerely believes that we can fix this, and we can fix it fairly quickly with the right team in place, in working with all of you who who have watched it, been frustrated by it, and want an answer.

Miss Senator Hoven, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I, I want to thank or, or, uh, express to both you and to the ranking member that I think we're fortunate to have both of you in role as chairman and ranking member. We've worked on many things in the past together, and I very much look forward to working with you in the future. And, uh, again, feel this committee is fortunate to have both of you in in these roles. Uh, welcome. Thank you. Roll's good to see you again. Thanks for coming to visit at the office. You have an awesome family. The best, the best. Yeah. So thanks, of course, for your husband being here and, and your kids, and, of course, no one will ever love you the way your mom does. So pretty awesome having mom. She's missing an important vote in Texas today to be here to sit behind me. So really grateful, really grateful. It's great. Um, and you have a fantastic family. Um, and I, we mentioned all this talk about A&M. Did I tell you when we talked that my wife went to UT? I don't know if I did or not. We did. And I had my sincerest condolences. Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of fun. And I'm wearing my North Dakota State University, uh, tie today, home of the Mighty Bison. I know we talked about them, but we do have an incredible School of Agriculture at North Dakota State University. Yes, you do. We're doing some awesome things. We have a project called Grand Farm. Sunny, do, um, came out and actually cut the ribbon on it. And we have a partnership between AR, AR, NDSU, and Grand Farm on precision agriculture. That's incredible. And so I'm going to invite you to come out to our state right away and see what we're doing. Would you commit to to coming out and seeing what we have and and meeting our folks?

I would love to come visit. And I have said, I think it's actually been reported in the press, that if you can get me on a horse, I'd love to ride a horse as we're all, uh, working on all of these issues across the states. And, uh, and really look forward to that.

Only if you ride with me. We will absolutely ride. Uh, one of my sisters races barrels. My job was just to get the horses in the trailer, which is, you know, sometimes easy, harder than racing barrels, sometimes easy, sometimes not, depending on a horse. But we'll do it. And, and I'm so glad to hear that. And of course, love your background in ranching. My grandfather was a cattle rancher, and back in the good old days when we raised Hereford instead of all the Herefords.

Farm Bill. Will you commit to work with us to get a a farm bill? And it is so incredibly important in agriculture, as you know. We have a system of family-based farmers and ranchers across this country, 16 million people involved in agriculture in some way, shape, or form, versus look at all these other industries that are concentrated. We have this, this system of family-based, uh, farmers and ranchers, businesses, small businesses. And what they produce for every single American, every single day, is the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world. Americans have better choice, better quality, and spend less of their budget on food than almost any other developed country. That's what we have because we have good farm policy. And that means affordable crop insurance, and that means a counter-cyclical safety net that works, keeping the farm in the farm bill. Will you commit to help us get that? We're past due. We need to get it done. Will you commit to help us get it done and get it done in the way I described?

Yes, sir. And again, maybe the pathological optimist in me, but I've talked to both from both sides of the aisle, the complexity, uh, the challenges in the last year or so of of reauthorizing it. And I hope that I can be a force multiplier. And I hope what I bring to the table is the opportunity to work alongside both sides to get us where we need to be for our farmers and ranchers, and some security, some, you know, understanding that that the net is there, and that the loans are there, and that the insurance is there, and that they can continue to be the best producers in the world for the world food supply. So I really look forward to that, obviously providing you the technical assistance that you need to be able to do your job, but also if asked or if called to help in any other way I can to get this done.

I think your relationship with President Trump's going to be incredibly important in that effort. Uh, we already saw it as we worked on the disaster piece that we included with the extension on the farm bill. Will you commit to work closely not only with this committee, but with our Ag Appropriations Committee as we administer, you know, that emergency assistance?

100% yes. And whether that's at 2 in the morning, 4 in the morning, midnight, I am always available and will work harder than anyone to ensure that you all have everything you need, uh, across the Capitol. President's help there was important, and I want, I want that acknowledged on the record.

And also tariffs. Um, we went through this, um, early, you know, in President Trump's first term, worked with Sonny Perdue when the, when China targeted our farmers and ranchers. We want markets. Talk for a minute about, I mean, we look at tariffs as a way to get markets for our, uh, farmers and ranchers, so they can compete on a level playing field. We did have to do the MFP. We worked with Sonny to do that last time. Give me your thoughts on how we're going to approach this.

As I mentioned, I was, uh, when I got the call about this particular position from the President, uh, we were driving our motor home across Mississippi on our way to Auburn for the Texas A&M Auburn Alabama game. I clearly wasn't expecting a call from the President at that moment, but when it came, and when we talked about this job, I celebrated, prayed with my family, and then immediately began understanding what happened last time and ensuring that we have the right team on the field that can immediately execute to ensure that we're solving for these major challenges. And so the undersecretary that will be coming before you, hopefully very quickly, Mr. Chairman, uh, helped run that program under Sonny Perdue. The staff that he is building out, if confirmed, is the same team that did it before, with the idea that we can't reinvent the wheel. We've got to be able to move quickly.

Well, that's good to hear because we did have to do some things legislatively to get it rocking and rolling, and we did work with Fortis and the other guys. And so we look forward to working with them again. So that whether it's China or anybody else knows we're not going, we're going to defend our guys, and we're going to make, uh, them play fair because on a level playing field, our farmers and ranchers out-compete anybody.

Yes, sir. Um, on just a couple others. Uh, one is the, uh, the sugar industry is huge in my state. That involves trade very, uh, directly, as you know. Will you commit to work with me, uh, on that industry? And Senator Klobuchar also shares, uh, that same concern. I think I, yes, sir. And in fact, Senator Smith and I discussed it as well when I met with her. Or Smith, yeah. And absolutely, Senator Smith. Yes. I know, don't leave out Senator Smith, my Minnesota Senators. I want to emphasize Senator Smith's shares that concern. Yes, yes. Thank you, Senator. Yes, 100%. And, uh, in any of these industries, I'm here and will always be available. We've also worked with your potential deputy secretary as well. And I want your commitment, uh, that both on behalf of yourself and him, that you will work with us on access on the forest lands, which, as you know, we have egg and many other interests out there, uh, on these forests, on the national grasslands. Access is an issue. We need your help. Will you commit to help us on that?

100%. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Senator. Uh, thank you very much, Miss Rollins. Senator Durbin had to go vote, and as you noted, which I appreciate, we have not one, but two Minnesota Senators. We're blessed to have Senator Smith with us. Senator Smith, thank you so much. Um, ranking member, and I want to just say, uh, share my congratulations to you and to Chair Durbin for leading this committee. I love serving on this committee. I love the bipartisan spirit that we have, and I even love Senator Hoven, who always forgets that I care about sugar in Minnesota. She even loves you, Senator Hoven. So welcome to you and your family. I can see how proud your family is of you, and I appreciated very much our conversation in, uh, my office. And I also appreciate your Minnesota roots and connection in Clear Lake, Minnesota. So thanks for that.

Um, so we have lots to talk about, and I'm going to get right to it. I wanted to start out by just, um, raising the issue of ethanol and sugar. And I'm so glad that Senator Klobuchar and Senator Hoven have touched on those two issues, both of which are vitally important to Minnesota agriculture. Um, you know, ethanol is homegrown energy. It is a major economic driver in Minnesota, $7 billion to our economy. And, um, similarly, the national sugar program is supports more than 151,000 jobs in our country and contributes $23 billion a year to the U.S. economy. And, um, it is run with zero cost to us taxpayers. So I appreciate your commitment to work with us on those two important programs.

Let's turn to rural development. You know, you come from a small town, and I represent a state filled with small towns and rural places, places that are full of, uh, energy and creativity and innovation and talent. And I think we also know that small towns and rural communities face unique challenges. And I sometimes think that people forget that the rural development side of the USDA is really important. That portfolio is very important. And I will be honest, I'm fearful, uh, that, um, the work done there, those efforts not being well understood, could become the target for budget cutting. And, um, I also know that American farmers and ranchers really trust the USDA on those issues. They don't want to see those programs farmed out to other agencies, um, where they're, we're all worried that they would just get less attention. We talked about this when you were in my office, and I appreciate that. So let's dive in on a couple of issues. Um, two big rural development issues: housing and child care. So we know we have a serious shortage of affordable housing in rural communities. These are places where our elders and folks that live on fixed incomes, people who make our food system work, it's where they live. Um, for for decades, the Rural Housing Service at the USDA has helped in those communities, and everyone agrees it needs to be modernized and updated. Last Congress, Senator Rounds and I introduced the Rural Hav H, excuse me, the Rural Housing Service Reform Act to do that. We have 14 bipartisan co-sponsors. So I want to ask you first, Miss Rollins, can you talk a bit about your vision for how the USDA can invade and engage on rural housing, and will you work with me on Rural Housing Service reform as we're describing in our bill?

Thank you, Senator Smith. And I think of of all of the portfolio, if confirmed, that I am, uh, I am taking on, the one that excites me the most is the opportunity to put forward a vision and build a program around revivifying, restoring, and bringing back rural America. And clearly, the federal government itself can't do that. There's going to be many, many factors. But the idea that we at USDA can lead that effort, that it's not just about you elevating our farmers and ensuring our ranchers are protected and that USDA is doing everything they can to defend them. It is an all approach. It is housing, it is child care, it is education, it is all of the above. And, and one of the things I think I bring to the table, and I think Senator Smith, you and I, and even Senator Klobuchar discussed this in the last White House. I led the effort called the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. I say I led it, we hired Scott Turner to lead it, who's now President Trump's housing nominee. And you all, if you haven't met him, will love meeting him, former NFL player and just a pastor and a visionary. Uh, but in that effort, we were really focused on urban communities and the disadvantaged communities within those urban communities. And over the course of many months, across the agencies, across the government, under President Trump, we focused on the myriad of programs that were duplicative, that tried to serve the same constituency, that sometimes were fine, but other times was a, was not a great use of dollars. So having an all-of-government approach like that, where we can really understand what role HHS plays, what role housing plays, and doing it quickly so we can begin to roll it out. A final thing I'll say, I know Senator, you've got one more question. America at 250, which America turns 250 next year, is going to be an incredible opportunity for us to take this message to every corner of rural America and to really get people focused on it. So I, I appreciate that very much. And I think we do need to bring that message, but we also need to make sure that we are supporting and improving wherever we can those rural development programs at USDA and not throwing them under the bus because I can tell you that they are counted on by folks in rural communities. So I hope that we'll be able to work together on that.

Um, for to Mr. I want to just touch in the time that I have left on the nutrition programs at USDA. You know, nutrition programs are foundational for healthy Americans. Two-thirds of SNAP recipients are families with children. One-third, um, are families with older adults or, uh, people with disabilities. SNAP is a rural development tool. Um, in Minnesota, rural communities have the highest food insecurity in the whole state, and in this country, nine out of 10 countries with the highest food insecurity rates are rural. So, um, Ms. Rollins, can you talk to me about how you see the rules around SNAP? And let's start with what you think about, um, work requirements for SNAP.

Well, first, I understand this is an incredibly important issue to everyone on the committee. My commitment is to ensure that we have the data, the research, and the understanding of this program to make sure that we are serving those that need it. And as I mentioned earlier, raised by a single mom in a rural community with two little sisters, she worked at the library, she made $5 an hour. I, I understand this.

And do you, is it your view that we need to adjust or change the work requirements for SNAP?

I, it probably will come as no surprise to everyone on this committee, both Republican and Democrat, and through a course of 20 years of being a policy leader, that I do believe in work requirements. I do think they're important. I do think, and I don't fully understand, but plan to get more in the weeds on this if confirmed and working with all of you to make sure that your concerns are part of that education process for me. So my view, and, and in fact, I think this is the official view of the USDA, is that SNAP should ensure that no one fears going hungry in this country, but also that it reflects the importance of work and responsibility in this country. And that is why SNAP has extensive work requirements in place. And folks that are not, um, required to work under SNAP, a very small number, it's because they are taking care of a child or an incapacitated person, because they are, um, all participating in an alcohol or drug treatment program, because they're already working, um, in under some other, um, program. So I, um, ask you to consider this as you, um, look at this, because again, I don't think that this is a good place to be looking for extra dollars when, um, we have so many people that are struggling with food insecurity, even though they are working, um, one or maybe two or three jobs.

Thank you. I know I'm out of time. Thank you, Senator. I, I commit to working with you and I look forward to it. Thank you very much, Senator Smith.

Next up, Senator Ernst, our neighbor to the South.

Yeah, thank you to our ranking member, Amy Klobuchar, and a, a great neighbor as has been mentioned many times over between Minnesota and Iowa. Uh, uh, Amy has worked with me on so many different agriculture and biofuel-related issues, and I am excited to work with you, Senator Klobuchar, you and Chairman Durbin, as we work on a five-year farm bill. It is very important that we get that done, and it is something that I hear continuously from Iowans as I travel all 99 counties in my great state. And, of course, to you, uh, Mrs. Brooke Rollin, thank you so much for being here today, and thank you for bringing your friends and family. I know how important that support is, and I'm, I'm excited to see you as our nominee for Secretary of Agriculture. I know you're an Ag girl at heart. We have talked about it at length. Uh, I truly am too, and I do have full confidence in your ability to lead this department, uh, full faith and confidence in this role.

So, Miss Rollin, something that you and I talked about, I'll start with this one. Uh, we talked about it at length is telework. And I know that we must address some of the work policies for federal employees at the Department of Agriculture. As you know, the GAO reported USDA's headquarters has a space utilization rate at just 11%. 11%. I've even received, uh, whistleblower letters from employees describing the building as a ghost town. So last year, I addressed this exact issue with then-Secretary Tom Vilsack and was met with very strong opposition. Rather than provide any evidence to dispute the GAO's numbers, and even after repeatedly, uh, following up with his staff, he refused to give me specific in-office numbers or building utilization data. In stark contrast, President Trump acted immediately to get our federal workforce back to actually working for the American people. So, Miss Rollins, in line with these efforts, what's your plan to achieve the 60% utilization goal for your headquarters buildings, which has been set by Congress? And secondly, will you commit to requiring each USDA employee to show up to the office?

Senator Ernst, thank you. And I really loved our time. We first started talking about this, uh, in way before even the election, way back. And I love your intense focus on ensuring that those who are hired and and paid by taxpayer dollars are fully committed to serve in the most effective way, uh, wherever and for whomever they work. And that is, I believe, being in an office almost every single time. And it's, it's not my belief alone. Obviously, President Trump has been talking about this. I believe there was even an executive order in the last day or two calling for the same. So, uh, I do look forward to, uh, getting into the office and hopefully very soon, and really working to effectuate the most effective workforce that the United States Department of Agriculture has ever had in the history of this country, and in so doing, ensuring that they are all in the office to to make that happen.

Wonderful. Thank you for that commitment. And another area that has been brought up quite frequently up here on the dais, and one that won't be a surprise to you, uh, but another area that is critically important for my Iowa farmers is biofuels. It's, you know, a key source of demand for our corn and our soybeans. During the Biden administration, this industry really did suffer from deflated, uh, renewable, um, or the RVOs, the last-minute announcements on sales of E15, and the lack of clear tax policy guidance on the 45Z clean fuel production credit, which is something that Roger Marshall, Senator Marshall of Kansas, and I were just discussing. Many of these moves have forced plants to idle or stop production completely. This is a huge issue for us. This is threatening hundreds of rural jobs and squeezing grain prices in the process. So I do applaud, applaud President Trump for making E15 a priority. He did have an executive order on that, but I do look forward to securing a permanent fix in law. But we will need an all-hands-on-deck approach for crafting future RVOs that reflect production capacity and guidance on the 45Z that will support American farmers. So, Miss Rollins, the USDA has a very big role to play when crafting these policies. As Secretary, will you commit to supporting biofuels and working with me to provide certainty for our farmers and the entire renewable fuel industry?

Yes, Senator. And I, I really look forward to that. I think there's no question where President Trump stands on this. I believe, if memory serves me correct, there was even an executive order on this in the last administration. It didn't come out of domestic policy, it came out of Larry Kudlow's NEC. So I didn't work on that directly, but, um, I know the courts, I believe, overturned it and, and correctly stated that the, that the, uh, Congress should take that up. I really look forward to working with you, but also with my friend Lee Zeldin, if confirmed, over at EPA, on, on a piece of this, on the 45Z, with my friend Scott Bessent over at Treasury. I think that you all will find, and hopefully be encouraged, that the cabinet, if confirmed, we all know each other, our friends, many of us are like family, and we really, really are looking forward to working together on these cross-agency issues like the ones that you've just outlined.

That's wonderful. Uh, really appreciate that because in the last administration, I have to say that in conversations with the leaders at all of those agencies, we were really blown off and left in the breeze. So I anticipate that President Trump will want to do right by our farmers and those that are producing renewable fuels.

Um, another, uh, issue, just very quickly, Miss Rollins, top of mind for Iowa Ag community is Proposition 12. We are the number one hog producer in the United States, number one hog producing state. And California's ballot initiative has been very devastating for our family farms, and is only fueling market consolidation of pork, pork producers. So, just ultimately, what we would like to do is move on legislation, craft a way forward so that we don't have states, uh, telling our producers how they can raise their livestock. Very important to us. So, Miss Rollins, in line with President Trump's priority to lower food costs for American families, will you commit to working with this committee to reverse Proposition 12?

Proposition 12, and I have just in the last few months become very acquainted with it. You know, the idea that one state, and, and listen, I'm a, I'm a federalism believer. I believe in the founders' vision of the 10th Amendment, and the government closest to the people is the government that should be most active. And under that 10th Amendment, but this particular issue, I believe from a even a bipartisan perspective, there's no doubt that it's not just affecting California, it's affecting multitudes of other states, multitudes of other parts of the Ag community, including our hog family farms, Iowa, but many other states have been really affected by this as well. I know that you guys, if you don't already have a bill filed, you're soon to file one. Uh, legislation has been drafted. So yes, I commit to working with you on that and look forward to it.

Excellent. Thank you, Miss Rollins. Um, and I look forward to hosting you in Iowa on an Ag biofuels tour, and I would welcome your, your family as well. So thank you. Thank you very much, and I yield back.

Senator Durbin. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mrs. Rollins, I took your advice when we met yesterday. You told me about your mother's agenda as a Texas State Representative on the issue of PFAS, and I should make a point of meeting her. She was the first person I met in the room today, and we talked. She's special, isn't she?

Senator? Sure is. And it looks like we're going to have a possibility of a real bipartisan state-federal alliance on an issue important to everybody. So I'm glad she came. I'm glad I had a chance to meet her. Thank you, sir.

We talked about a lot of things yesterday, and I want to talk about one that's in, in the headlines this morning and will be for a long time: the mass deportation of undocumented people from the United States. I mentioned to you that, um, I've been surprised by the response I received among farmers and ranchers and people involved in agriculture when it comes to the immigration issue. I told you about the dairy farmer who said, Senator Durbin, we're going to close down our dairy operation after three generations in our family because we need immigrant workers for dairy operations in Illinois. Another young lady with the Farm Bureau raised her hand and said, while you're at it, include the orchards. Who's going to pick this crop? It isn't the local kids at the high school. They won't even man the fruit stand out by the highway. And I put an air conditioner in there. I can't get them to come to work for me. I need immigrant workers. Turns out that 40% of the farm workers in this country are undocumented. And you know what that means? They're vulnerable to being deported. And if they're deported, what are the farmers going to do? For a lot of them, and for a lot of different industries, immigration is critical. Now, your organization has said some things, some pretty strong things. Your America First Policy Institute, they've called for deportation at a scale that actually matters, in massive deportation efforts. So I just need to ask you, what is your policy on immigration? We've got to get down to the real world, not the criminals. We don't want them, they shouldn't come here, and they shouldn't stay. But those who work every single darn day to pick a crop that American people are not going to pick themselves, and most of them, 40%, I shouldn't say most, 40% are undocumented. So can we expect this administration to be raiding farms and going after the immigrant farm workers?

Senator, thank you. And I really was grateful for our time yesterday and our time working together in the last administration, and I appreciate your kindness. Uh, I was a little late yesterday, there was some confusion, and you gave me a little grace, so I, I really appreciate that. Yes, Senator Durbin, you as well. Uh, listen, the President's vision of a secure border and a mass deportation at a scale that matters is something I support. I was his domestic policy director in the last White House. I have built and led an organization alongside Chad Wolf, our former Secretary of Homeland Security, at the America First Policy Institute. Uh, I want to be extremely transparent, and, and I think that you deserve that. That is my commitment is to help President Trump deploy his agenda in an effective way, while at the same time defending, as if confirmed Secretary of Agriculture, uh, our farmers and ranchers across this country. And so having both of those, which you may argue is, uh, is in conflict, but having both of those as key priorities, my job is to work with, if confirmed, the Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer from Oregon, but she herself has family farms in California and Oregon, uh, to work with her on the H-2A program, to also work with all of you to form and perhaps modernize that H-2A program. We'll also say that, um, the President has been very clear that this first round will be aimed at, as you mentioned, those who have committed crimes and are criminals while inside our borders over the last four years. So we will follow the data. We will follow and listen to our farmers and ranchers as this is moving. And my commitment is to work with all of you to work to solve and, and do everything we can to make sure that none of these farms or dairy producers are put out of business.

Now, I support your answer. Dangerous people shouldn't be here, and if they're here, they should be gone, period. But when we're talking massive deportation, we've gone beyond dangerous criminals. And I just wonder if we ought to give fair warning to farmers and ranchers across America that if you have immigrant labor, you can expect federal agents to come and search your property. Is that in the future for farmers and ranchers under the mass deportation plan?

Sir, I have not been involved in that. The President's current plan, I cannot answer that one way or the other. Uh, I do know that my job is to ensure that as those conversations are ongoing, if confirmed, that I am part of that data collection and understanding, and, and that the President understands that what this means to our agriculture community. And I believe sincerely that he will execute his agenda that he has promised the American people, but that will never forget our Ag community in so doing.

Well, I certainly hope so, because these men and women and immigrant labor on our farms are doing backbreaking work every single damn day, and they've done it for years. And many of them, 40% of them, are undocumented. And if they are going to be deported, and we've seen a lot fewer fruits and vegetables that we take for granted every time we go into the store, I think that's part of the reality. When it comes to the SNAP program, the work requirement, and the asset requirements, do you think we ought to apply work and asset requirements to other agricultural programs?

Senator Durbin, I look forward to learning more about those. I have actually spent most of my time on SNAP in preparing for this hearing. I'm obviously aware there are 16 other nutrition programs across the United States Department of Agriculture. Uh, I look forward to learning more about all of those, meeting with those that are running them, even looking across the agencies to see to see whom else is working on these projects, and ensuring that they are the most effective for those who need them, but also the most efficient for the taxpayer.

I'm going to ask one last question. Project 2025. You're familiar with calls for capping crop insurance payouts to $40,000 per farmer and terminating longtime USDA export promotion programs. What's your position on this Project 2025 proposal?

Sir, the America First Policy Institute was not involved at all in Project 2025. We were in no meetings, we were not part of any policy process, and had nothing to do with it. And so I, I'm sorry, I don't know that I can answer that specifically. Uh, I will say that my, my role is to defend farmers and ranchers and our Ag communities and our rural communities with everything I have. So as I am looking at all of these programs, aside from anything that other think tanks put together, uh, my commitment is to ensure that we follow the data and protect our Ag community.

Thank you. Thank you, Senator.

Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And congratulations. I'm so proud of you and so excited to get to work with you. I think it's really neat that, uh, you got the call from President Trump, and I believe you were in, uh, Newton, Mississippi, Newton, Mississippi, in the Walmart parking lot, that's when the call came. When you got the call on your way to the Auburn game? Yes. And I believe that went into three overtimes, if I remember correctly. It did. And the Aggies, once again, ran out of time, which is our November sort of game plan these days. Well, that was a super exciting day. Thank you for sure. No doubt. And it was so nice to get to meet Mark out at the, uh, National Finals Rodeo. Thank you for accepting the invitation to come there. But I want to highlight two important, uh, things before diving into the questions, and that is the supplemental that was passed before Christmas. And I just want to thank Senator Durbin. I want to thank Senator Collins on how incredibly important that was to get that into that bill. That $10 billion that will make a total difference in the survival of

So many producers throughout the state, so thank you for that. That, uh, certainly didn't go unnoticed by the ACT world. But, um, I wanted to talk to you about catfish. Mississippi is the top producing state of catfish. Our farm-raised catfish, and it's a huge contributor to our rural economy throughout the state. And our neighbors in Arkansas and Alabama, they're right there with us. But unfortunately, the foreign catfish issues, the imports, primarily Vietnam and China, that has really hurt the industry. But my greatest concern was now that it is being inspected by USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, and it's charged with inspecting all those imported catfish. And, uh, I've been very concerned about how that has been implemented. They are far more rigorous than the Food and Drug Administration inspection. But the inspection hasn't been at the top of the priority list for the last administration, and that made a big, huge difference because there can be dangerous carcinogens in there, many elements that's harmful to human consumption that was getting by and not inspected. So if confirmed, will you work to ensure that FSIS tightens its imported catfish inspection responsibilities?

Yes, ma'am. I really look forward to, uh, all aspects of the United States Department of Agriculture, but have heard from several of you that the inspection part of it could be significantly, um, improved. And, uh, and my commitment is to do everything I can to do just that. Uh, we are close to announcing an Under Secretary, I should say, the President is close to announcing an Under Secretary in that role, and I think everyone will be very pleased, uh, when that announcement is made and, and look forward to hopefully his quick confirmation and letting us get to work.

Senator, wonderful. I thought that for years, as we're the top producing state there, and as a commissioner in Mississippi, and I also share your commitment, as you mentioned in your testimony, to addressing the H5N1 and the new world screwworm outbreaks as high consequence diseases threatening animal agriculture. I've gotten several calls lately on that from producers that are very concerned about that. And I can remember the Avian Influenza, uh, threat getting the Mississippi flocks, buddy, you know, that kept me up at night. And I had plenty of foam, plenty of water on standby that if we had the outbreak, we were ready. But I was also involved in reopening beef export markets after BSE, or the Mad Cow Disease. And, uh, those markets took over a decade to recover when we had countries that did not buy our beef because of that for 13 years until that, that we got that under control. But while much attention is given to the problem of animal disease outbreaks, I want to focus on the key solution that's often overlooked, and that is the importance of USDA veterinarians. And those are so critical. And despite the hiring freezes, those professionals are essential in protecting animal and public health and ensuring food security because of these outbreaks. The vets are currently managing the H5N1 outbreak by testing meat and milk and helping producers with biosecurity practices. But unfortunately, USDA has struggled for years with inadequate veterinarian staffing. And with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection, or APHIS, a problem was made worse by a compensation system that, uh, the previous secretary described as just uncompetitive in the hearing in the last Congress. But I tried to work with the previous administration to begin correcting the serious recruitment and retention problems there, but those efforts were pretty much ignored as well. But it's just extremely frustrating to know how critical it is to make sure we have the safest, cheapest food in the entire world, and it takes inspections to do that. But, uh, hopefully that will be better. And I'm going to ask for your commitment on that, as it just jeopardizes the American agriculture competitiveness by putting us at further risk for spreading disease. But the shortage affects public health and agricultural, um, the situations we find ourselves in because we just sit there and hope and pray that we don't get a call that there is an outbreak of anything. The USDA Office of Personnel Management must address these veterinary personnel challenges. So my question is, will you commit to working with me toward timely and meaningful solutions, solutions of course that would be in line with the President's agenda toward this personnel for these veterinarians that we need at USDA?

Senator, I so look forward to doing that. And, yeah, I'm not sure if you've heard, but Texas A&M has a heck of a good veterinary school. Uh, so that I'm very familiar with. So, uh, I especially on this, look forward to that with you. I do think that the recruiting piece of this, and, and you and I working together, and I believe Senator Klobuchar may be a co-chair with you on the veterinary, um, committee here in the Senate, but across the board, ensuring that your leadership and, and my supporting you, if confirmed, uh, continues to be a priority, and really look forward to that. And one quick statement I want to get in to look forward to working with you on as well, once confirmed, is to address the USDA Packers and Stockyards rules concerning poultry. It, uh, it's really caused some significant cost increase to our poultry growers, and it really doesn't have any quantifiable profits. So that's another thing that I would like to meet with you on is Packers and Stockyards, the law that we all live by. Thank you so much, and I so look forward to supporting you. Thank you.

Senator Booker, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Uh, I'm excited to be here and excited to have a few moments with you. Uh, thank you for coming by my office yesterday. I know I was the favorite office you visited. Uh, you know, I was the favorite there were three favorites, and you were one of the three. I, I'm glad, glad to hear that. I know you like my visit better than Tommy Tuberville. Uh, um, I'm gonna jump on the moving mom bandwagon here. Uh, when you told me about the work she did, the work on P-G-A-D, I hope it, uh, uh, foreshadows some of the work we can do together. It's a real problem for American farmers, and it's something that's really important to me. I mentioned to you when you were with me that, uh, one of the biggest, um, uh, uh, problems we have in America is that the biggest producers in our country, um, have done well. That's not a problem. I, I love and celebrate American success. Uh, but we're having a problem with the big, big producers, often controlled by multinational corporations, who are doing great. Uh, but most of our small farmers in America really continue to struggle. Since 2017, we've lost over 140,000,000 farms in our country. And since the 1970s, over half a million farms have been lost in this country. This loss of family farms has led to awful things happening in our rural communities, an exodus of residents, jobs, really the hollowing out of rural communities. And for the farmers who have managed to hang on, times are really tough for American farmers. 88% of family farmers have second jobs off the farms, and a majority of that income utilized by those families is generated, uh, from, from off-farm income. And right now, the USDA programs are structured in ways that serve well the biggest producers, but often do not work for small and mid-size family farms. So I'm pushing, uh, in the upcoming farm bill to create an office of small farms within the USDA that would be charged with looking at USDA programs and policies and finding ways to make them work for our small farmers. This is a crisis. We're losing our heritage. Families that have had farms for five, six generations in America are really struggling. And this is just a yes or no question, which I got in private, I'm hoping to get in public. As Secretary, will you make it a priority for the USDA to do a lot more to help, uh, small farmers?

One zillion percent, yes. Which is Aggy math, because I think you can only get to 100% yes. But 100% yes. And Senator, we discussed yesterday, for me personally, that is where my heart is and my passion, in restoring rural America, and working together in all parts of our country. I am grateful. I'm going to say Hallelujah, Amen to your answer. And remind you that your mother is watching.

Yes, sir. All right. Um, uh, so as you know, we're also facing a global hunger crisis. Millions of people are in desperate need of food. For the past several years, Senator Boozman and I have worked closely with USDA to increase and expedite the USDA's purchase of commodities such as rice and wheat from US farmers for shipment to countries where people are really suffering near famine-like conditions. It's a win-win for us. The USDA purchases really help our farmers, and at the same time, we're able to provide life-saving food to children and families around the globe. I know that you and I share a deep faith. It's a motivation behind what we do, uh, in our work, and you believe, uh, that the gospel calls on us to help people in need. But it's also a national security, uh, issue for America and helping to stabilize, uh, uh, other nations, uh, that are facing crisis. My office is getting a lot of concern, uh, and concerning reports from farmers that humanitarian programs like Food for Peace may be paused by one of the recent executive orders. I really am hoping that's not true. And again, a yes or no question, once you're confirmed, will you check on the status of that, and will you make food aid purchases, uh, from our farmers a priority?

Yes, sir, of course.

Fantastic. Meat packers, most Americans don't know this. They work in really horrifically dangerous conditions. One of the dangerous jobs, most dangerous jobs in America. They're being forced to make repetitive motions every day, forceful ones. The USDA published recently a report showing that at current line speeds, 81% of chicken processing plant workers are at an elevated risk, significantly so, of developing debilitating upper body disorders and things like carpal tunnel syndrome. These workers also face a risk of serious injuries. On average, two worker amputations per work week occur on slaughter lines in the United States of America. Just imagine if that was your family member. Even worse, meat packing giants like JBS have admitted and been fined for child labor violations in their processing plants. The USDA currently is one of the largest buyers from these big meat packers. I have a bill with Senator Josh Hawley. It is a bipartisan bill to stop federal contracting with companies with child labor violations. As Secretary, yes or no, will you commit to using the agency's purchasing power to force these companies to end these horrific abuses, child labor practices, and bad treatment of workers?

Senator Booker, I look forward to working with you on that. I don't and have not spent enough time to fully understand to commit one way or the other, but I absolutely look forward to working with you and learning more about this issue. Hawley and I will definitely talk to you more. I'm grateful for that.

Yes. And I'm going to speed to my last question. Ultra-processed foods and school meals. We're facing a crisis. You talked about it earlier with our children. 38% of teenagers in America have pre-diabetes, among other often chronic diseases. We have a sickness epidemic in American children. We know that if kids reach adulthood obese, they are on a trajectory of a lifetime of sickness and suffering that will cost our healthcare system inordinate, inordinate amounts, and cost them as well. We know that 60% of children's calories, 60% currently come from ultra-processed foods. Many of them have unhealthy levels of salt and added sugar. With our school meal program, we have an opportunity to make sure that kids get healthy, nutritious meals that empower them in school that day and for their life. But right now, kids are still getting too many of their calories in schools from ultra-processed meals. Yes or no, if confirmed, will you commit to dealing with this crisis and really focusing on children's nutrition by reducing the amount of ultra-processed foods in our school meal program?

The answer is yes. But I want to add to that, if you don't mind. I, um, as I mentioned with Chairman Boozman, I do think this is a crisis, and I do agree with you. And I think, uh, before my friend RFK Jr., Bobby Kennedy, came on the scene, I believe that was in August, and became part of the America First movement, that this particular issue, while really important, was not necessarily at the top of, uh, the America First agenda. At AFPI, America First, we had some people working on it, but didn't expect it to be a priority in the administration. I am encouraged that it is now a priority and look forward to working with everyone.

I am so grateful for that. This is not a question because my time's expired. But Prop 12 coming out of California, Packers and Stockyard Act, I know you will be open to us bringing you small family farmers, independent family farmers who show that Prop 12 has opened up new opportunities for them, and the Packers and Stockyard Act is protecting them, and they actually want to see better enforcement. So I know we can, you're open to us having that conversation.

I will look forward to that. Thank you.

Senator, thank you, Senator Marshall. Thank you, Chairman. Ranking member, Ms. Rollins, welcome. Thank you. You want to know if you agree with me that whole milk is the most nutritious drink known to humankind and belongs in our school lunches?

Senator, I don't know that you have met my mom yet, but this is all we had in our refrigerator growing up, not anything else, just whole milk. She is absolutely never going to let us forget this. The fact that this is coming up, but yes, this, this hits, uh, home to me very, very quickly, brings back a lot of memories.

So Ms. Rollins, like many of us on this committee, you have a love, a passion for rural America, for agriculture. Tell us where that comes from and why this job is important to American agriculture and rural America, just from your heart.

Senator, thank you. The fact that I'm sitting here today, that I am in the United States Capitol, that I'm sitting in front of this committee, that I am serving at the appointment of the President of the United States as one of his potential cabinet members, but yet I grew up in a town of 1200 with a single mom with two little sisters, went to Texas A&M on an agriculture scholarship because my love, but also we needed the money. That Future Farmers of America is the organization that set my path so many years ago. I am fighting for the next Brooke who is growing up in a little bitty town with a single mom, that her weekends are spent on horses and raising cattle and barrel racing and at Friday night football, at least in the South, and, and making sure that those communities continue to raise and provide thriving and incredible opportunities for the next generation of leaders so that this country can continue in the next 250 years to do what we've done in the last 250, and that is to create and govern under our founders' vision of the greatest country in the history of the world. And this work, and this committee, and this moment in time is the backbone to all of that.

Yeah, Mr. Rollins reminds me of a song that growing up at Kansas farm boy, mostly having fun. And I think that's what you're describing. It was mostly having fun. It was a simpler time. You pointed out earlier, 90% of rural America supported President Trump in the election. Over 90%. Now, every time I see the President, the first thing he asks me is, Roger, how are your farmers and ranchers doing in Kansas? Can you just share with this committee President Trump's passion, compassion for farmers and ranchers? Do you have similar conversations with him as well?

Yes, Senator. One of the illuminating moments of my time with him in the last administration, and it was, as you can imagine, an adventure beyond any imagination to be next to President Trump for three years, and then to continue to work with him after he left the White House to build the America First Policy Institute and continue the policies for the next 100 years, not just for this moment in time. But I, in the last West Wing, I believe I'm speaking correctly, was the only person with an agriculture background, and that wasn't widely known because I was managing the entire portfolio. But anytime in any senior staff meetings or anytime we were in the Oval Office and these issues would come up, he would always point to me and say, "Where, where are we on that?" And it was so clear to me that that is where his heart is. I'll never forget a cabinet meeting where we were having a discussion about some big corporate entity who had asked for a very large sum in the multi-billions of dollars for a project. And that same week, he had been asked for that project, he had also visited some farmers in Georgia. And I'll never forget, I was sitting behind him because I was not part of the cabinet, I was part of the senior staff. And I'll never forget, I don't think the media was in there, but he looked at the entire cabinet and then turned, you know, over his shoulder and looked at us who were sitting behind him as his senior team, and he said, "I'm not here for those guys who are asking for billions of dollars for their new project and their market value is many, many billions and billions more. I'm here for those farmers. I am here for those men and women that I met in Georgia yesterday who are hurting but never complain, never miss a beat, never stop doing what they're called to do, which is to produce for the families across America and across the world. That is who I am here for." And we, all pointing to the cabinet and the staff, are here to serve. I think that was in maybe year two of the four, and I've never forgotten it. And when he called me about this job, we talked about that again.

Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Ms. Rollins. So obviously, agriculture, rural America is important to you. It's important to the President. Would you just speak for a moment how important biofuels are to the farmers, to the ranchers who benefit from some of the substrates coming out of that process, and rural America as well? And specifically, how 45Z might impact rural America?

I think that everyone knows where the President is on this, and he often jokes that there were a lot of meetings. I think a lot of you were in, Senator Grassley, I know you were in many of those in the last White House, making sure that the President fully understood the importance of exactly what you're talking about, Senator, on biofuels, and especially to our farmers. Uh, I believe that in the last 48 hours, one of his executive orders on energy actually included a mention of biofuels. And also, my role, if confirmed, is to defend all of American agriculture. So I believe, Senator, that you and others who hail from these states where this is a driver for your farmers and your ranchers and your economy should feel very confident that you have a friend and a defender in this current administration to make sure this continues. 45Z, obviously, my friend Scott Pruitt, if confirmed over at Treasury, uh, will be working on that. That's in his purview, but I will ensure that he has the data and the voices and the opinions around him to make the right decision.

Yeah, just one more quick call on the 45Z. Is that certainly what we don't want is China to benefit from it, correct? Which is happening right now. We can go into that more detail later. By the way, I was sitting here thinking, I remember President Trump's first primary back in '16 in Iowa. I believe he came out, was the candidate that came out in favor of biofuels, as well, as I recall.

That's right.

Let's finish up on the regulatory environment. Boy, I don't know if anything's a bigger concern to the American farmer right now than the regulatory environment. And the two hot-button issues have been WOTUS, Waters of the US, and the Endangered Species Act. Can you tell us what your involvement was in rolling back that WOTUS regulation with the previous administration, and that I think is a good example going forward, what will be happening?

I will, and I appreciate that so much because I do have extensive experience in, uh, many of these regulatory programs that in the last administration, we worked to make, uh, roll back, but also align better for the needs of our ag communities and ensure that the Waters of the United States rule did not put more farmers out of business. Same with the Endangered Species Act. I know that that's also a big issue in our forest, uh, land as well. So I really encourage and look forward, and my policy heart, uh, is very happy at the opportunity to make those better, to understand the harm, and follow the data on it, and really work with all of you to, uh, try to solve for that in the next, the next four years.

Senator Schiff, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And at the outset, I want to tell you how very grateful I am to serve on this committee. California has not had a senator on the Agriculture Committee for over 30 years. And as a leading agricultural state, really, I'm really proud of the industry and all the people who work in it and grateful to have a chance to represent them on this committee. And Senator Marshall, I wanted to tell you that, uh, a California legislator once made a name for himself by drinking a beaker of malathion to demonstrate his view that he thought it was that safe. I will not be doing that today. Um, Ms. Rollins, thank you for being here today. When we met earlier this month to discuss your nomination, firefighters in Southern California had just begun efforts to contain two blazes. As we know now, this was only the beginning of what would ultimately amount to one of the most devastating wildfire disasters in the state's history, if not the nation's history. Over the last two and a half weeks, in LA, it's been difficult for me to put into words how truly catastrophic these fires have been. Just the scope of them is beyond anything I would have ever imagined. Whole neighborhoods and communities just wiped out. The Forest Service has been playing an amazing role in the emergency response efforts, working hand-in-hand with state and local partners to secure resources and personnel to aid California's wildfire response. This month, the Forest Service deployed 2,300 federal firefighters, 12 large air tankers, 20 helicopters, six scoopers, and eight modular airborne firefighting aircraft. Without these federal resources, the devastation in LA would have been far worse. And we're not done with it yet. We had the outbreak of another fire just yesterday. If confirmed as Secretary, are you committed to deploying the same emergency resources to fight wildfires in blue states that would be deployed to fight wildfires in red states? Can we count on you not to discriminate among states in the vigor of the federal response?

Senator, thank you. And obviously, but it bears saying since you asked, 100% yes. And to watch the devastation in your beautiful state has been heartbreaking for all of us, no matter if we're from red states or blue states. I think that hopefully, if there's any good that comes from this, if I'm confirmed, we can figure out how to be even a better, more impactful resource the next time this happens, and hopefully be able to work more closely, more quickly with those on the ground across blue states and red states.

Thank you. I very much appreciate that. Wildland firefighters have been putting their lives on the line to protect my communities back home. And we need to make sure that we continue to encourage people to become wildland firefighters and that their compensation is commensurate with the critical and dangerous work that they do. I, I was speaking with one firefighter who was, I think, an LA Fire Department firefighter, not a wildland firefighter, but nonetheless facing the same risks, who told me that he wasn't sure he was going to make it out alive. That there were fires in front of him and behind him, his communications equipment was in and out, water was running low. And, and, uh, he said it was the closest thing to hell that he could imagine. The key, I think, to recruiting and retaining people to do that kind of vital and dangerous work is to make sure they're well compensated. The bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Biden included a long overdue pay raise for federal firefighters, but that raise is set to expire in March. This means our federal firefighters could once again be paid as low as $15 an hour to risk their lives to keep our communities safe. If confirmed as Secretary, are you committed to fighting to extend the pay increase so that we can continue to recruit and retain these wildland firefighters?

Senator Schiff, and the tens of thousands of firefighters at the Forest Service at USDA in our peak seasons, and even now, I think we have close to a thousand on the ground in your home state, I am 100% behind ensuring that we have the best, the best firefighters, the best workforce that we can possibly have to fight these fires. I need to learn more about exactly what it is you're speaking about before a full commitment, but I will commit to this, that in all of my time with President Trump, and the eight-plus years I've been beside him in serving in his administration and answering the call for this position, have confirmed that he too believes that those who are putting their lives on the line every single day deserve the honor and the respect and the pay that goes along with those jobs. So I look forward to working with you to ensure, as we move forward, that that is happening in the most appropriate way.

I, I appreciate that. Let me, let me turn to a different topic. During the President's first term, USDA had to allocate tens of billions of dollars to offset the financial impact of the tariffs and the reciprocal tariffs that other countries imposed on our agriculture and on our farmers. But that financial assistance offered to farmers impacted by the trade war was not equally distributed. Despite California's leading role in US agriculture and the heavy tariffs imposed on specialty crop exports, California growers received far less than their fair share in tariff assistance under the 2019 Market Facilitation Program. Out of hundreds of specialty crops grown in the US, only eight crops received direct assistance. And in the end, approximately 1% of the nearly $15 billion in USDA allocated resources went to California specialty crop growers, so about 1%. And as you know, we're the leading state when it comes to specialty crops. If confirmed, are you committed to distributing all economic assistance, including trade relief, to states without regard for their political leanings?

I am committed to that. I think Senator Stabenow, and you, and even you and I discussed the specialty crops in Michigan when we met. I look forward to, I'm not familiar with the data that you laid out, but I look forward to learning more about that and being committed to ensuring that, to the very, very best of our ability, that this is appropriately adjudicated.

I appreciate that. I, I look forward to working together to make sure that that relief, if it should be necessary, is distributed equitably. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator Tuberville. Coach, coach, thank you very much. Uh, Mr. Rollins, who would have known 30 years ago, I'm a young coach at Texas A&M, and you're student body president. First time we met.

Yep.

And we sat next to each other in, in, in lots of meetings.

That's exactly right.

And look where we're at now. I know, I know it's amazing. Congratulations. Congratulations. You're going to be awesome.

Thank you.

But I don't want to sugarcoat this because my farmers back home are hurting. Yes, sir. We're in trouble. Our farmers are in trouble. Small farmers are selling right and left. I got a bill on the floor, actually, I dropped it yesterday about keeping foreign adversaries from buying our farmland. We're selling it right and left. But I don't blame them because they can't make a profit. Row croppers in my state of Alabama are really getting killed. Cotton farmers last year, the input cost was about $400 an acre. They might have got $100, $100 an acre out of their crop last year. That's the reason we had to do supplemental right before Christmas. My phone is ringing off the wall. We have got to help our farmers, but they hate handouts. I'll tell you that right now. They hate it because they want to do their own work. So I'm glad you understand that. Being from Texas, you understand it. And again, it is a, it is a dire, dire problem, and it's not going to, it's not to get fixed overnight. I'm looking forward to seeing who your team is going to be around you. I will tell you this, it's discouraging to know that you walk into the office building where you're going to have 3 or 4,000 employees, and you can shoot a gun, not hit anybody. There's nobody there. Nobody's been working in the office for four years. I mean, it's embarrassing. It's absolutely embarrassing. Our farmers need help, and we got nobody working at the office. So we have to get input costs down. That's not your job. Six, seven years ago, a cotton picker cost $750,000 in Alabama. Today is $1.5 million. Yes, sir. Fertilizers gone sky-high after the Ukraine war. It's just, I mean, it's embarrassing to where we've got, there's a $45 billion trade deficit. And a $45 billion, and the only way that we can get commodity prices back up is handle that trade deficit. So that being said, we need dialogue. If confirmed, will you commit on doing dialogue with President Trump and the people around him to get our farmers an opportunity to have a better, better price for their crop?

Yes, I will, Senator, and I so look forward to that. Uh, I think one of the things I read recently that only 43% of our ag producers are net positive, net income positive. That is unsustainable. We have to find a better way, and it can't come always through government subsidies. We've got to expand the market. We've got to figure out input costs. One of President Trump's top priorities was food inflation. Well, this comes before food inflation because this itself will drive the cost of food down if we do our jobs and if we're able to produce for our ag community the way that, coach, I believe that we can, working together.

Yeah, what we don't want to happen is what's happened to our drug industry. You know, we found in COVID, we look around going, you know, how do we keep people, you know, get people healthy, and all the drugs are made in China. And we're going to end up in the same situation if we don't wake up and smell the roses. It's going to happen again. People are right and left, and you can't blame them. Our small farms are going to end up being corporations like the packing houses. We only got three companies now that are meat packers, and one of them is owned by China. We're headed in a direction of unknown, and it's going to take leadership from your office to get that back on the right track. Our forest industry in my state, $36 billion a year. Now, with the USDA Forest Service, under your purview, what priorities do you have for the health of our forests across the country, not just in Alabama, but we have to continue that to make sure that we have, uh, healthy wood because it is something that we're very proud of.

I know that's really important to Alabama and many of the other states that are represented here and across the United States Senate. My commitment is to, uh, hire an A++ team. We've already announced our Under Secretary, Mike Boren, for this position. I have great faith in his leadership. He is a businessman, and I think bringing to the table, hopefully with a quick confirmation process from all of you, he will bring to the table a team that will take our great firefighters in the Forest Service and, and hopefully realign and reorganize in a way that makes the Forest Service, including forest management, more productive, more efficient, more effective so that we don't have the issues that we've had in these last number of years, and especially for our great producers in your state and other states.

Keyword: forest management. Key to HTS. We've got to manage our forests. Do it the right way. American people across the country that are not in this business don't have, they shouldn't have to pay for everything that the mistakes that that we make. You know, we're broke. We're $36 trillion in debt. And it's getting worse. That's right. Every day we're printing $80,000 a second, by the way. And we can't sustain that. Government's way too big. Disaster relief, disaster relief. If we've had problems with tornadoes or floods or whatever in my state, it takes at least three years at times to get any kind of disaster relief. Three years. And you know as well as I do, farmers borrow money from banks for a crop, and those bankers are looking around going, where's our money? Well, we're waiting for disaster relief. The bankers shouldn't have to deal with that, nor should the farmers. But, uh, I think there has to be a better plan for that at the end of the day. And I'm, again, I'm throwing all your problems out to you. Probably don't want to hear that, but it's, we got a lot of problems that need to be fixed.

Well, Senator Tuberville, I believe that you and I having a conversation with our Commander-in-Chief, and the fact that it's taking three years to get relief will be unacceptable to him. It is unacceptable to me, and I look forward to working with you to ensure that we do better, much, much better than that. Thank you. Good luck.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Senator. Senator Welch. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Durbin. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you and I will, uh, absolutely work together on that. And, and we've spent a lot of time this morning talking to everyone about restoring rural America and how important that is to the next 250 years of our country. That will happen because of our small family farms and our rural ranchers. You know, and another issue for young farmers, it's so hard for a young person to get into farming, and largely because they can't get the farmland. And there's a lot of concern expressed here, and I share it, about Chinese possibly buying up. But you know who's buying it up? It's private equity. I want farmers to be able to buy farmland. I mean, is that of concern to you? I know having access to farmland for young farmers is, but China may be a threat, but private equity is a threat too. Care to comment?

Sir, thank you. The average farmer today, the average age is 58 years old. If we really think we're going to have a sustainable, thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years after you and I have probably gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend. Okay?

And the last topic in this round, rural broadband. It has made such a difference for rural Vermont and for our farm communities, and your department has played a major role in facilitating that. We have to continue that and get that last barn on the longest dirt road wired so they have the advantages that come with access to the internet.

Care to 100% agree. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Thune. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, uh, don't want the coach to be upset, but when you asked the question, how did you both get here? I kind of get how you got here. I'm still trying to figure out about the coach how coach got here. But you did another thing that really is astonishing. Senator Cruz gave you a very nice introduction, and he, you know, I didn't know something that he's kept on the down low, he actually has a sense of humor. So this is, this is a pretty astonishing hearing. It is a new day. It is. And thank you for your visit to my office and your enthusiasm about rural America. And I'm so delighted to be working with our new ranking member and our new chair to try to strengthen rural America. And I share the, I think, point of view strongly held by members of this committee, that rural America really is about the great values and strength of America, hard work, family, community. And rural America has been under brutal pressure. And I think every single one of us wants to do everything we can to strengthen it because a strong rural America is a strong America. Uh, a couple of things. We have been really blessed in Vermont with a very responsive Department of Agriculture. The Rural Development organization in Vermont has helped us through the floods of July '23 and July '24. Or, uh, it has used opportunities to strengthen the economy for farmers. So I just want to make certain that some of the things that have really been helpful to us, we can have some confidence continue, should you be the new Secretary of Agriculture. Number one, the, we've got, under the previous administration, there was $40 million that went to Vermont for energy efficiency programs. And we don't have to have a debate about climate change, whether it's real or not. But my view is this, agriculture and our farmers can help us deal with the weather events that are enormous by doing things where they get income to sequester carbon. So without having the climate change discussion, I want to make certain that I can have some confidence that our farmers who are adopting regenerative agricultural practices, organic agriculture, doing things that by all estimations make for good, healthy crops, but also reduce carbon emissions, that will continue to make that possible, and they'll get paid to do it, not just be asked through regulations to impose, to bear the burden.

Senator Welch, thank you, and love visiting with you and excited to come to Vermont if invited. I loved our conversation, and you were, we actually talked about the workforce at USDA, at least those that you have interacted with and worked with, and hearing from you how excellent the service was and the good job that they did meant a lot to me, and I look forward to meeting them if confirmed. I think it's important to recognize, Senator, I will always have an open dialogue with all of you. I think I gave all of you my cell phone.

No, you did. Let me go on to the next one because I, I just want to sure go through a few things. You know, another issue is is labor on the farm. We can't milk our cows. We literally can't milk our cows without some without immigrant labor. And I'm for a secure border. I think all of us here are, but I'm also for legal immigration. And that is a real challenge for our dairy farmers. And I want to make sure that whatever we do to secure the border doesn't deprive our hardworking dairy farms and farmers access to the labor that they absolutely depend on. Can you comment on that?

Senator, yes, thank you. And I appreciate everyone's commitment to a secure border. You were not the only one on this side of the room that has made the point that that's really important. But I know there is great concern amongst our ag community on what immigration under President Trump will look like. My commitment to you is this, that understanding the data and understanding the impact of those in the ag community, dairy farms, I think especially are concerned, but everybody is ensuring that we're working with the nominee over at Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is from Oregon. So we will work together on that, sir. And you appreciate the import of having access to that labor for our dairy farms and others as well. I know that these cows need to be milked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't go away if there's no one to milk them. That's big trouble.

All right. Another thing, a shared view that a lot of the incredible challenges farmers have are because they don't control the weather. And a lot of our small farmers, our vegetable farmers, they don't have an insurance program that works for them. The, the, the insurance program for some of our vegetable folks, they would only get paid wholesale or reimbursed wholesale when they sell at farmers' markets at retail. And also, they would have this incredible documentation process where they had to say how many tomatoes they had, how many beets they had. I've introduced the Weather Act as an effort to try to streamline the reporting requirements. And I'm not going to ask you for the details on that, but we have to have insurance programs that help not just the big commodities, of which is a challenge and an obligation we have, but these smaller farmers that are the future. Can I count on working with you on that?

Well, streamline, the word streamline is my love language. So yes, you

Do it because of one thing. They love what they do. They're the best of the best, and they love what they do. And we got to keep them there, and we got to protect them in every single way. I know it in my heart, and I believe it with all my soul. You know, if you'll just step back and look, the grocery store's a mile long. Food beyond belief. Now, I know we've had an increase in food prices, and we need to do something about that if we possibly can. But with all that, we enjoy a luxury that is off the chart: that of what we throw away. Many, many around the world would beg to have what we throw away. It's a luxury beyond belief. And that small farm that I'm talking about provides us that luxury. And Brooke, I, I've really only got one question for you, and it's just this. And I, I don't have enough time to go into all the specifics, but from a value-added standpoint, you know, if I could deviate just a second to forestry, and, and, and I, I look forward to telling you about this because I've got a plan that really could very well help bring our furniture manufacturing, our cabinetry, you know, our flooring manufacturing back from, from it being in China, Vietnam, and Mexico, where we've lost it all for all practical purposes, back to us. We'll talk about that. But I want to hear that you are really supportive of value-added products because it is so important to getting our manufacturing at home. And what President Trump absolutely believes and wants more than anything. Again, I am all in with your nomination, 100%. You will do an amazing job. There's no question about it. But please comment on the value added, please, sir.

There is no excuse why everything in American agriculture, and America in general, but we're here to talk about it, is not the best of the world. That everything that we work on is of the most excellent approach, and that we continue to build and feed and thrive and preserve the American heritage of the greatest farmers in the world. I'm telling you, and everybody should pay close attention. She's a superstar. Thank you, sir. And we need her. We need her. So, you, sir, maybe it's premature, but congratulations. As long as I have Baby Dog's support, that's, uh, that's you got Baby Dog with you every single day. Thank you, sir. I, I so appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Baby Dog was the difference in you getting on the committee or not. Baby Dog trumps me every single day.

Senator Wicker. Good. On, I don't know how to follow that. Welcome to the committee. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Chairman Bosan. I, I want to take a moment to congratulate you and Ranking Member Cloar and your appointments to, uh, lead this committee. I look forward to working with both of you. I've met with each of you and, um, I've enjoyed our relationship and the work that we've, uh, tried to do and the work we've done. Uh, Mr. Rollins, good morning, and, uh, welcome to you and also to your family and all those who are here to support you. And congratulations on your nomination. Thank you. I enjoyed also meeting with you, um, last month to discuss your nomination and plans for USDA. And this morning, I'd just like to follow up on some of the issues, many of which we've already discussed. Uh, but first, it has come to my attention, uh, that a recent executive order has led to the potential termination of USDA's liaisons to our 1890 land-grant institutions, institutions like Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Georgia. There is strong bipartisan support for these institutions. They've done, uh, an incredible job, uh, often doing so much for so many with so very little for such a long time that people, it's missed, it's lost on people the work that, that these institutions do every day. I'm, I'm deeply concerned about this and the actions to shut out their voices at USDA. Miss Rollins, if you were confirmed, will you commit to supporting our 1890 institutions?

Sir, I believe Prairie View A&M is one of those 1890 institutions, which I'm very familiar with and partnered as a student at Texas A&M. And, uh, in the last administration, worked with. I am not familiar with exactly what you're speaking of, but my commitment to you is to find out and to, uh, continue a really important discussion and to learn more about the issue.

Well, the, the, the executive order, um, could lead to the potential termination of USDA's liaisons to these 1890 institutions, which help them to navigate their relationship with the USDA. Can I have your commitment to protect, uh, those who, who serve, uh, these institutions at the USDA?

Again, sir, I would want to know more and understand more before I can make that commitment. But clearly, uh, those institutions are important. They are bipartisan supported. And, and you have my commitment to have a, a very robust dialogue at any moment, any time of day or night, to ensure that we have all the data as we're making any decisions.

I, I appreciate that. I've, I've had, uh, good relationships and good work, bipartisan work, uh, supporting, uh, this in these, these institutions. And, um, I hope you'll keep your eye on, on that issue. I will. Um, last year, I worked hard with my colleagues in a bipartisan manner to provide $21 billion to help farmers recover from natural disasters like Hurricane Helen. Uh, farmers, as you know, do incredible work. It's a tough business. There's so much you don't control. The margins are narrow. And so I do everything I can to protect my growers in, in Georgia. I cannot overstate how critical it is for USDA to distribute this assistance, this disaster assistance, to Georgia farmers as quickly as possible, but also as equitably as possible. If confirmed, briefly, because I want to get through these questions, how will you work to ensure disaster assistance is distributed both swiftly and equitably?

Yes, sir. Thank you. And I'll try to answer quickly, uh, so we can go. The day I got the call from President Trump, it was Saturday, November 23rd. We were in our motor home traveling across the country to an Aggie football game. Uh, within a few hours of accepting the nomination, I began to immediately pivot to how do we distribute this disaster and so important economic aid. Working with a few of the Senators on this committee, um, clearly, I am not, not confirmed yet, so this is going to await my arrival. But in the meantime, sir, we've already announced the Under Secretary who worked on this in the last Trump administration, who is already building the team that distributed these funds. So they know what they're doing. We're not reinventing the wheel.

Well, will you work with our state agriculture committee, uh, commissioner, uh, to ensure Georgia producers, including our foresters, have the support they need from USDA to get that assistance without having to jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops?

Of course.

And will you also commit to equitably getting that assistance to all eligible farmers, all eligible farmers, uh, including those who've been historically left out of USDA assistance, often due to discrimination?

Sir, we will follow the law and ensure that that is the case.

Is that a yes or a no?

Yes.

Uh, so let, let me move on to, to the next, uh, subject. Thanks so much. Fighting hunger has long been a part of my life's work, long before I was elected, uh, to the Senate. Uh, as you know, I'm a pastor, and the, the one miracle story that's in all the Gospels, all four, is the feeding of the 5,000. That's right. And so I constantly hear from Georgia farmers, Georgia families, about how their dollar just doesn't go as far at the grocery store as it used to. The average Georgian participating in SNAP, a food assistance program that provides critical nutrition aid to our most vulnerable families, has about $6.15 a day to spend on food. And your view, is $6.15 a day adequate to avoid hunger for Georgia families?

Sir, this is a supplemental program. I am just getting my arms around it. There is, uh, few that will be in my role, if confirmed, that have a, a passion for this more than I do. Serving those who are most in need, as you and I discussed in your office, is a, is a driving force of my entire life. It almost sent me to seminary, but I ended up in public policy instead. So you have my wholehearted commitment to look and ensure that the people who need this the most are receiving it in the best way possible, but at the same time, ensuring that all of the tax dollars that are spent on it are also spent in the best way possible.

One, one of the things, as these families struggle, one of the things that I'm concerned about, our proposal is to slash this critical assistance and create additional work verification red tape for families participating in these programs. Do you think creating more bureaucratic red tape for families will help them purchase nutritious food?

I think it's extremely important that we take a wholesale look at every one of these programs and ensure that they are serving the people that are needing the programs and that they are the safety net they truly set out to be. Obviously, I do not like the words bureaucracy or red tape, but ensuring that we have set up the appropriate lifelines and the appropriate structure so that we can get these, uh, resources to the families that need them the most. As we talk about work requirements, and, and I support work, I was raised by a father and a mother, uh, commitment, have a serious work ethic. But we want to help these families have a basic, uh, safety net. Most poor people are children. I think it's important to remember that most poor people are children. SNAP lifts children, seniors, veterans, and folks with disabilities out of poverty, and it's proven to reduce healthcare costs and stimulate our local economies. Uh, if, if you're confirmed, I hope we can find ways to work together to ensure our most vulnerable families and our neighbors can afford groceries. Uh, I think, as someone who again, who preaches the parable of, not the parable, but the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, I think it's the right thing to do. Uh, but I also think it's a smart thing to do.

Yes, sir. You have my commitment. And my, my friend Dr. Alvita King is here, and we have spoken of that multiple times. So looking forward to working with everyone. I'm her, I'm her family's pastor. Yes, sir. I'm very well aware. Thank you.

Senator Grassley. Yeah, congratulations. Uh, like other Senators, I think you'll do a good job. Thank you, sir. Want to start out by thanking you, like Senator Durbin did, for during the Trump administration, working with us on the First Step Act. You were actively involved in a lot of those negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on the Hill here, as well as between us and the First Trump administration. You worked hard. I noticed after you took the oath, the first question you got was, "Are you going to answer our letters?" Remember what I told you in my office?

Oh, yes, sir. As I tell every confirmed person coming to my office, that you ought to say maybe, because I pointed out to you how I had 158 letters to the Justice Department that are still unanswered. So they said yes, but they've turned out to be liars. And, and that's true of Republican and Democrat administrations generally. So I hope you'll, since you said "I do," you'll tell all your colleagues in the cabinet the same darn thing, or they're going to be liars. So, uh, yes, sir. I hear you loud and clear. And I have to believe, with 100,000 employees at USDA, we'll be able to answer your letters to the best of my ability, sir. But yes.

Now, uh, at least one other person, my colleague, Senator Ernst, has brought up the importance of whistleblowers. Information she got from them. Uh, I'm, uh, not sure that I want to ask you a question. I just want to tell you what is on my mind. And that is, you've got tens of thousands of people working under you. You can't know what they do. And, uh, you ought to listen to whistleblowers. And it's not you yourself listening to whistleblowers, it's you establishing a culture within your agency that middle management is going to listen to whistleblowers. Because then they don't have to come and bother me. I've got 38 investigations going. Most of it has come from whistleblower information about fraud or about the law not being followed or misspending of money and all that. So listen to whistleblowers, will you?

Yes, sir. You have my 100% commitment. We talked about it in your office, and I really look forward to that.

Yeah. Uh, the next thing is, uh, the, the legal term "actively engaged in farming" is not enforced. We got too many people on Wall Street getting farm payments that shouldn't be getting them. So I want you make sure that all of this manipulation that has gone on in the Department of Agriculture under both Republicans and Democrats to dilute the term "actively engaged," and I'm being a little factious when I say this, but you ought to at least have dirt under your fingernails if you're going to get payments from the taxpayers for your farming operation. So I expect "actively engaged" to be fully enforced, uh, by, uh, you. And, uh, whatever, however it's been diluted, you ought to take a look at it and make sure that it is stiffer than what it otherwise was. And then when we get into this negotiations on a five-year farm bill, I don't expect you to answer this now, but just let me tell you, there can be tremendous savings to the taxpayers. And you can even discuss this with Mr. Musk of Doge, and you can discuss it with, uh, uh, people at OMB, if you can put a cap on what one farmer can get from the farm program, so we aren't subsidizing big farmers to get big farmers get bigger. And I got nothing wrong with the marketplace working for people, get as big as they want to get, but we shouldn't be subsidizing it. The whole point of an agricultural farm, five-year farm bill safety net, is to protect people that are medium and small-sized farmers that can't, uh, that can't control, uh, what happens to them, whether it's a natural disaster or a cartel grain embargo or some war in, uh, big farmers can, can handle that, but small farmers can't. And that's, seems to me, for the same reason we put out disaster relief for farmers in the bill that, uh, just passed before Christmas, and you're going to administer, there's the same reason that we have a safety net for farmers on prices generally and things beyond their control. So, uh, I try every farm bill to get this done. And the most successful farm bill I had, and I hope I'm successful in this farm bill, was 2015 when I got a cap put on in, uh, in both the House and Senate in exactly the same language, and it shouldn't have been diluted at all or changed at all when it goes to conference, because those were the rules of conference. But the congressman from Texas, I don't know his name, that was chairman of the Ag Committee at that time, and you probably know who he was, uh, he did not like it, and he diluted it to his pack, uh, it's practically meaningless at this point. So if you want to save some taxpayers' money, look, look at that issue when I bring it up again. Thank you, sir.

Another thing is, uh, we have, we had the first Trump administration, we had, uh, a couple times in the Biden administration, uh, uh, use money from the Commodity Credit Corporation that I don't think should have been used. And, and the power of the purse, as you know, rests with Congress under Article I of the Constitution, and money can't be spent without authority of Congress. And billions have been wasted that way. And I hope you don't get involved in wasting those dollars again. I'll end with the Packers and Stockyards Act. I think it's stronger than anything that the Justice Department can do under antitrust laws to protect the welfare of the farmer, to make sure that the marketplace is working. And thank God, PAC, just, just before he left office, put out some regulations that will help, uh, enforce powers of the Packers and Stockyards Act, particularly to protect livestock, uh, producers in highly concentrated, uh, areas of agriculture, or the poultry grower payment system, the capital improvement payment system. The American Farm Bureau Federation has spoken positively about these issues. I think there were some more that are on the books that maybe you can take a look at that he didn't get around to putting out because maybe they're a little more controversial. But the Packers and Stockyards Act is the most effective tool to make sure that the marketplace works for the American farmer. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator. And I am really looking forward to working with you and, and continuing to move forward, and especially focusing on our small family farms in rural America.

Senator Stabenow. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Representative, welcome to the committee. Re- uh, Kerwin, I know that most folks have been recognizing you, but we just want to say welcome. I look forward to working with you in whatever capacity we can. My late father also served in the New Mexico legislature and, uh, very much appreciated some of those good projects that he had with, uh, some of the, the new family, if you will, the extended family of, of members from Texas. I got to know as a young person. So, uh, welcome to the committee. Um, Mrs. Roland, thank you for being here. I very much appreciate the conversation that we had in the office as well. Um, and one of the areas I shared in our conversation is, is something that I hold deeply, as I expressed to you, which is that, uh, every American should be able to have food on their, on their table. No, no one should go hungry in America, no matter what zip code or area code they live in, or no, no matter how much money they make. Uh, I appreciated my colleagues raising issues in some of these areas with nutritional programs. And given the important role that the Secretary of Agriculture plays in administering federal nutritional programs, I'd like to better understand your vision for them. Now, I, I did my due diligence to go through the America First Policy Institute's documents, but I wasn't able to find anything that, that I could digest. It's probably the wrong word to use, um, um, when it comes to addressing, to addressing hunger in America. Yes. Do you agree that in America, that, let me ask it this way, do you believe that in an America that is truly great, that our children don't go hungry at night?

Yes.

Updates to the Thrifty Food Plan in 2021, a program that you, you'd have a lot of say over, lifted about 2.4 million SNAP participants, including 1 million children, out of poverty. That's good. It's not great yet because we haven't done it all, but it's a good start. Now, Mrs. Roland, yes or no, will you commit to opposing any cuts to SNAP that would prevent Americans, including millions of children, from putting food on their table?

Senator, probably not surprising to you, I, I can't, can't commit to that. Uh, obviously, it is of utmost importance to me and you, and I discussed that, that we solve this, that it isn't just hunger, it's nutrition as well for so many of our children that don't have access to those programs. But I also know that I have a duty to the taxpayer who is funding in significant numbers those programs. I sincerely believe, Senator, that working together, and working with other members of this committee, it's important to Chairman Bosan as well, that we can find a solution that may or may not end up in cuts. I don't know. That is something I need to spend more time on, research the data, meet with more people. I can't make that commitment to you today, but I can make the commitment to you for a lot of time, a lot of thought, a lot of conversation as we move down that road.

I appreciate that. Uh, you know, I'm, I'm always reminded that budgets are a reflection of values, depending on how those budgets are put forth as well. And I certainly hope that in America, while we all have a responsibility, uh, with fiscal responsibility, that our priorities would say children shouldn't go hungry in America. And I hope that's something that we can find some commonality on down the road. Now, I want to drill into something more specific, which is a program called WIC. It's a program for women, infants, and children, also a food program. It's one of those acronym programs you talked about that over, uh, over at the Department of Agriculture. For decades, Republicans and Democrats have supported full funding for, for this program, meaning that no eligible mother or child who applies for the program is turned away. In your capacity as Secretary, is this a program that we can count on your support with?

I look forward, I believe that's one of the 16 nutrition programs across the United States Department of Agriculture purview. I have not spent as much time as I hope to in the coming days and weeks, once confirmed, to really dig into that. But, uh, clearly my heart, this administration, I believe, speaking for, uh, the full administration, clearly America is the place where everyone should have the opportunity to be part of a safety net when needed. And WIC, I realize, is an important part of that safety net.

I appreciate that response very much. Now, in the area of specialty crops, everyone here brags on who's best. We have it. It's New Mexico. I'm going to address that right away. I share the concern that many have shared up here today around small farms. 53% of New Mexico farms are 50 acres or less. I mean, the one that I'm on is under five. I'm concerned as well with what's been happening with small farms across America, whether it's water rights that are being gobbled up and taken off for something else away from agricultural water rights, or, or who's buying them, or what they're turning into. It's one of the reasons I introduced a piece of legislation with Senator Moran, uh, that's a farmer-to-farmer education act. I will never forget a conversation I had with a, a grower back home where I was asking about USDA programs years back, and he said, "Well, we don't do so well qualifying for those programs." And all the rest. And I said, "Well, you do. You're doing okay. You're doing better than most." Tell me how. And he said, "I had to learn how to farm USDA." Yeah. Maybe that works for some, but not for all. Yeah. I agree with everyone that talked about the red tape that exists for some of these programs. We've got to find a better way. These are people that are spending time producing food, growing food. They shouldn't be stuck behind a desk trying to figure out, you know, what document needs to go here, what document needs to go there. We've got to find a better way. So I appreciate your commitment already in that particular area and your commitment to work with small farms.

The other area that I raised in our meeting, and I actually just got off the phone with someone, so I apologize for excusing myself, but the Hermits Peak CF Canyon fire. This is a fire that started a few years ago that became the largest fire in the state of New Mexico's history. What surprises a lot of folks, and I appreciate my Republican and Democratic colleagues here for supporting me and helping to create a fund specific for these, this fire, right? This fire started as a prescribed burn. My brother actually called in to try to burn our ditches and some things around our house. And you have to call the local fire department, is the way our permit works. And you call them up and you say, "Can I burn today?" And they'll tell you, "Nope, no burning today." He got a no-burn. The day that they started this prescribed burn, got out of control. So then I got told by folks around USDA, well, very few percentage of our fires, prescribed fires, turn into big burns. About two months later, guess what happened in New Mexico? Yeah, we had another one. And there was an investigation, and then that investigation showed that rather than using the infrared technology that we've all helped fund, some folks put their hands on the deal, and it didn't feel warm, and they walked away. And the winds kicked up, and we know what happens when a little coal gets a little bit of a breeze. Sometimes we do it ourselves, give it a little breath. There's got to be a better way about ensuring that the technology that we can secure, the firefighters are to get paid properly, but that we're going to follow this so that this does not happen anywhere in America again. And I'll close with this, Mr. Chairman. I very much appreciate, Mrs. Roland, your commitment to, uh, working with, uh, Governor Noem or with FEMA and making sure when these programs exist that money gets out the door to the families that need it most. So, just thank you for that. Good luck with everything. And again, Representative, honored to have you here today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senator.

Senator Moran. Mr. Chairman, I would defer to the Senator from South Dakota as the Majority Leader. Otherwise, I will feel too much pressure to be brief. Well, they told me that, that the, the Majority Leader was here, and it is customary that he goes. But he was trying to be a show his servant leadership and let you go. Well, I was trying, I was trying to do the same thing, and I defer and yield to the Senator from South Dakota. Okay. Senator Thune. And thank again. I, I think it's a real tribute. The Senator Thune right now is a busy person, trying to get the railroad going here and doing a lot of different things, but it just shows how important agriculture is not only to him but to his state. Yeah, Moran's just trying to get one up on me here, you know that. But thank you, Mr. Chairman, and, uh, thank you, Ms. Rollins, for your willingness to serve. This issue is incredibly important, as you already know, to folks on this committee. It's the number one, uh, industry in our state of South Dakota. And so we know you're going to be great in this job and look forward to moving you along and getting you confirmed and off to work. There are several things that need to be worked on. We have a record trade deficit in agriculture, which we've never, we've never seen that before. It's been one area in of our economy that we've always had, uh, trade surpluses. The emergency relief program has not worked well. There have been a lot of glitches that need to be smoothed out. We want you to, to, uh, jump on that one as well. And I would say, among the issues that I want to touch on quickly, and you've been here forever, and we want to, I'll try and keep this brief so my colleague from Kansas can ask questions, but, uh, I want to touch on a couple of things that are really important in my home state. As you know, I've been a longtime supporter of mandatory country of origin labeling for beef products. And I would just say that South Dakota cattle producers work really, really hard and tirelessly to produce some of the highest quality beef in the world. The system in which producers operate needs to be fair and transparent, which is, I think it's critical, uh, that we take the steps to pass legislation tasking USDA and USR to find a path forward on mandatory country of origin labeling. So, if confirmed, will you commit to working closely with my office as well as with the U.S. Trade Rep to ensure a WTO-compliant path forward for, uh, mandatory, mandatory country of origin labeling?

Yes, sir. I look forward to that, and hopefully, I can be a, a value-add in a consensus-driven approach to that. And I really appreciate your leadership and, and passion for this. Thank you.

Appreciate that very much. We look forward to that. Uh, as you know, the Black Hills is, is an important timber producer, and timber processors and communities depend upon the Forest Service for, uh, nearly 80% of their raw material. And in turn, the Forest Service depends on the capacity of the processors to care for and manage the forest. And I know this has been touched on already, but I want to talk specifically about the Black Hills. Since 2019, the timber sale program on the Black Hills Forest has been cut drastically. In fact, sales announced for this fiscal year are approximately 25% of what is allowed for in the current Forest plan. In 19, or I should say, in 2021, one of the three primary sawmills in the Black Hills closed, citing a lack of U.S. Forest Service timber sales as the primary factor. And today, the remaining sawmills are operating at 50%, incurring financial losses and trucking in material from other states. This is not sustainable. The Biden administration policies have decimated the timber industry, forest products industry in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and, uh, it's not sustainable for companies, communities, or for, frankly, for that matter, for the national forest. We have got to manage our forests in a way that reduces the, the, the wildfire risk that exists out there. We're starting to see evidence of another pine beetle, pine beetle economic or epidemic in the Black Hills. And so I guess my question is, if confirmed, will you commit to work with us quickly, uh, and the entire delegation, the Black Hills National Forest footprint, and the forest products industry to understand the issues at hand and to give much-needed attention and priority, and hopefully relief, to what is a very dire situation in the Black Hills National Forest?

Yes, sir. I've become acutely aware that not just in your home state, but in multiple home states, this industry is just being decimated by current policies. I, uh, I believe I speak for the larger administration and President Trump that that is unacceptable. And whatever we need to do, uh, within reason and within the law, to turn the ship on that, you have my full commitment. And, and as much time as I can possibly give, building the best team, getting our Under Secretary in this arena, uh, confirmed as soon as possible, uh, but we've already begun the path forward on that. And I really look forward to working with you, uh, ongoing, and, and hopefully moving very quickly. Thank you. We work closely to quickly to get you.

Confirmed, and hopefully the people who will have, uh, direct responsibility for this. It is that urgent. I mean, this is an emergency. I can't tell you, people, people in the Black Hills and the jobs that go with it are, are, are really des...

All right, finally, um, on the, just the, um, beginning farmers. It's challenging, I think, as you know, because of some of the barriers to entry to get into agriculture. And so making that easier, not harder, and less expensive, not more expensive, is something that we've really focused on. I've got a bill with Senator Klobuchar, which we can talk to you later about. But, uh, crop insurance has always been the, the, the foundation, the cornerstone of the safety net. And we've got other programs that we try to refine each time we do a farm bill. And this farm bill, which the chairman will lead us through, will be my fifth. And, uh, so as we do that, I would, uh, encourage you to work with us to find ways to strengthen and fortify the existing safety net programs and look at ways that we can provide incentives and encourage, uh, beginning farmers and young people who desire and aspire to become involved in production agriculture to be able to do so.

So, sir, I, so thank you for that. The average age of the farmer in America is 58 years old. That is, is not sustainable if we hope to revivify and restore our rural communities and go back to our family farms. We have to address this immediately. And whatever that looks like, whatever all of, uh, the, the wholesale approach could be or should be, I will be the biggest advocate, the biggest cheerleader. I'll be in the White House all the time talking about it, all across America, working with all of you to fix that. I, I think it's of dire importance for the future of our country. Right.

Thank you, Miss Rollins, and thank you again for your willingness to serve. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you so much, Senator. Well, we're still on the first round. Uh, Senator Schiff's already gone. So, Senator Moran, uh, Chairman, thank you. And Senator Thune, thank you. Uh, I'm pleased to be a new member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. And it took a waiver that probably involved the Majority Leader's approval. So I'm pleased to now have that debt clear. Yes, yes, you're all free. I'm all free. Uh, Miss Rollins, thank you very much for, for the conversation we had in the office. Thank you for your interest in serving. I want to run through, I hope maybe five things that, um, I want to talk about briefly. Some of which we did talk in person.

But first of all, um, it's been described here, the dangerous and, and dramatic circumstances that farmers and ranchers find themselves in across the country. It's certainly true in Kansas. We have the same difficulties that everybody else has across the country with, uh, high input costs and low commodity prices. But I would add that all, almost 80% of, of the counties in Kansas are in a, in a dis, in a, a drought, uh, circumstance. And so you add to the, the problems that we can't grow a crop, uh, it's dramatic. This is the least amount of wheat harvested in Kansas since 1961. And so there are significant challenges. It highlights what Senator Thune said about the importance of our risk management program, crop insurance. And it is the, perhaps the, as important as anything else that we will do. But our failure to pass a farm bill, and one of the reasons that I'm excited about to, to be on the Senate Agriculture Committee is this really does have to be our, our shot at getting the farm bill done. I can't imagine there can be another excuse. And we'll have an administration that's cheering us on. And Senators Boozman and Senator Klobuchar are two people I think that we'll see work together. And I pledge to do my part to accomplish that.

But as a result of no, no farm bill and these other problems, we passed Disaster Assistance, economic and natural disaster. I just want to again remind you, the timeliness. Our farmers are going to their banks. Bankers have been to their bankers. There is not time for a farmer to have to wait to see what the consequences were. If we could predict, if you at USDA could tell farmers how the program is going to be administered, even before the checks are determined, that would be very valuable as they put it into their planning process, helpful to them and helpful to their, their banker. But I would remind you that in my view, and I think my colleagues, certainly my farmers at home, the way that disaster assistance was implemented in 2020, I'm sorry, in 2022, did not help the farmers who suffered the greatest losses. So the way that your predecessor implemented the disaster payments was very damaging, very discouraging, very disappointing. And we would ask you to do so as to implement as the payments were determined in the 2018-2019 crop years. USDA disperse the, the way the, and in addition to asking that question, we would, you would also be complying with Congressional law and intent. We worked hard to make clear that whoever the Secretary of Agriculture was, in whatever administration, they couldn't go back and do it the way that provided almost very little, uh, disaster assistance. So that's number one. And if you happen to tell me yes, I, I would, yes. And, and since we have Senator Thune still here, the quicker we can get our Under Secretary approved in that lane, uh, the quicker we will be able to move, obviously my confirmation as well, if approved, and I'll be honored. But we have already begun, uh, putting the team together that did this work under the President Trump first administration. Uh, hopefully, my thought was that we won't have to reinvent the wheel. We can immediately begin moving. So that is my commitment. And, and again, I'll work all hours to ensure that that happens.

Uh, thank you for that answer. Um, I also want to again highlight a few words that I mentioned in our conversation in the office. The National Bio and Agro-defense Facility. Yes, sir. So in, in Manhattan, Kansas, uh, near Kansas State University, is this national center created as a result of the fear of a, of an introduction of some entity, something into our food supply system that would be a terrorist act. And do we have the capability scientifically, uh, to respond? And that facility is a $1.5 billion facility. It employs 400 people. And it has, uh, greater potential than what has been developed, uh, between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Agriculture. And it has been transferred to USDA. It's your responsibility. And I would like a, if you could give me a point person now or a few days from now, in which could become my point person on the National Bio-Agro-Science Facility. Yes, sir. I, I can't do it right at this moment, but I will absolutely get that to you as soon as I, uh, have the ability to do that. I don't know if I have to wait to be confirmed. If I don't, you will get that right away. If I do, hopefully that will come upon confirmation very soon. It seems to me that we should be working for your fast confirmation. That seems like a really good idea.

Talked about, uh, let me highlight NIFA and ERS. So, uh, the Trump administration, in the past, decided that they wanted to help put, uh, departments, agencies, federal employees across the country, not totally centered here, in Washington D.C., the nation's capital. And, and NIFA and ERS agencies were moved to Kansas City. And, uh, there is, I think what, uh, what happened is, in, in the circumstances here in Washington D.C., there were 650 or 700 employees. Uh, I'm told that there are 400 employees now in Kansas City. But I'm also, at least by press reports, uh, only 20% of the people are actually working in the office. So if we want to have the kind of consequence in reviving rural America, other places in the country, this is certainly a Kansas issue, but it's a Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, uh, Iowa, where our sometimes our farm kids can't get a job back on the farm, can't return to the family farm, but they want to work in agriculture, or it's a spouse of somebody who's on the farm. And having those agencies and their employees in places like Kansas and Missouri and Iowa and Nebraska, that creates opportunities that would not otherwise exist. And so, in my view, the purpose of the move was defeated in the reality of telling people, well, you stay in D.C. and work, uh, from home. And that fits in with what a conversation a number of us had about actually getting USDA and other federal employees back in the office.

I 100% agree with you. I am extremely excited to, uh, get, uh, our workforce back into the office, whether it's here, Washington, or out across the country. I think that in the business that we are in at USDA, a customer business, and being available for our customers, whether that is up in Senator Welch's Vermont, or my Texas, or your, wherever it is, your Kansas, that, that we have people in the office. So that will be a very big priority of mine. Thank you.

Um, I'm involved in SAF, sustainable aviation fuel. Uh, we have introduced legislation, "Farm to Fly." It has been made a part of the draft of both the House and Senate Farm Bills. And, uh, I would just ask your, uh, to be your awareness that there's an opportunity for agriculture across the country as we begin to fuel the aviation industry. And Kansas, the Air Capital of the World, along with an agricultural center, has great potential. But this is a potential for all farmers as we talk about how to make sure if we've lost a market due to a tariff, or, uh, as they struggle, we need every market we can get. And this is it. It also requires a good definition from 45Z in the Treasury Department, which you've said you will advocate for. Finally, we have an AR Center, a research center in, uh, Manhattan, Kansas. The University of, uh, Kansas State University has a tremendous amount of agricultural research. And we would like to see cooperation between the two, including potentially the collocation of their work. Uh, the facilities for AR are nothing that they should be. There's a lot of work that needs to be done. And there's a number of us on, including the Chairman of the Committee, who are, uh, members of the Appropriations Committee for the Department of Agriculture. And we want to help you get better facilities. And I would just like to highlight the need for cooperation. If we're going to build better or expand a facility, can we do it in conjunction with the local university and get the bigger bang for the buck? I encourage that discussion. Obviously, as a, a proud agriculture degree from Texas A&M, and I'm still very close to the leadership there. In fact, our Vice Chancellor was hoping to be here today, but ended up having to give a speech to some livestock producers. Uh, I really look forward, my heart is with a lot of these universities, with all of our land grants across the country. That was a very fine answer. I like the response, except there was something you should have said about the importance of other land grant universities, for example, Kansas State. For example, Kansas State.

Senator, yes. I appreciate that, and I'm excited to continue that work with you. And let me tell, Mrs. Kerwin, thank you for raising a great daughter. Oh, thank you, sir.

Um, so Senator Schiff, I'm, we're going to do five-minute rounds now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Ms. Rollins, right now, um, farm workers in Ventura County are picking strawberries, uh, in a brown haze, smoke from the fires. Uh, it's a surreal scene to look at images, uh, of, of working in those conditions. These are just some of the difficult conditions that farm workers are often in. They're working in 100-degree heat, they're working in the cold. Uh, they're some of the hardest working people I've ever met. And I want to raise the issue of the impact that mass deportations would have on them. First and foremost, on people who are working so hard to put food on our table, and just the, to me, grave injustice of deporting people who are doing such vital work to feed us. Uh, there's also the impact on their families. Many of them have children who are U.S. citizens and will be U.S. citizens. And so it would have the effect of splitting up their families. And even if we set that aside, which we shouldn't, it's estimated that perhaps half of California's farm workforce is undocumented. So my question is, how are you supposed to farm? How are farmers in California supposed to survive if there are truly mass deportations in which half of the workforce is sent out of the country? How Americans don't want to do that work? It's, it's frankly just too backbreaking. So who's going to work the farms?

Senator, I know we talked about this in your office. Had a productive, perhaps agree to disagree, but still productive conversation. And, and I so appreciate that. Uh, we've talked about this within this committee in the last three or four hours as well. President Trump ran and was overwhelmingly elected, uh, on the priority of border security and mass deportation. He is, and his team are, I'm assuming, currently putting in place the plans to begin that process, of course, first with those who have committed criminal offenses. Once they have been here, the American people have asked for, uh, a secure border and, uh, and a system where they do not have to be concerned with the millions and millions that crossed here illegally and brought, uh, a lot of strife and, uh, unsafe communities to America. And I know this is not the committee where we discuss this, and I know probably the last thing you want to do is get into a debate right now over it, because I sure don't want to. But let me answer your question. I will work around the clock with our new Labor Secretary, if she's confirmed, Lori Chavez-DeRemer. There is, obviously, I think everyone would agree, H-2A, uh, important changes that need to be made to recognize within the agriculture community the importance of a strong labor force.

Well, you know, I still want to get back to my question though. If they're gone, who's going to do that work?

Well, sir, we don't know, first of all, whether they will, whether who they are, right? I mean, we all throw numbers around like 40%, 50%, 60%. The answer is, we just don't know. And as these, uh, processes and programs are being implemented under this new administration, with the full support of the majority of Americans, I think that we, as the leaders in agriculture, myself as the leader at USDA, you on this committee, along with others on the committee, uh, that we will work together to understand and hopefully solve for some of these problems. That the dairy cattle have to be milked. But if we've got a mass deportation program underway, then there's a lot of work that we need to do through the Labor Department with Lori, uh, Chavez-DeRemer, who's also an, uh, person, and, uh, and working with Congress to solve for a lot of this through our current programs, our current labor programs that are already on the books.

Let me ask one other related question on this topic, and that is, if we deport a large percentage of our farm workforce, um, farm labor is going to be scarce. Isn't that inevitably going to push up food prices? And if so, isn't that in sharp contrast with what the president said he wanted to do to bring down egg prices and food prices and everything else?

I think, well, first of all, we're speaking in hypotheticals, but certainly these are hypotheticals we do need to be thinking through. And I think it's, it's a very fair point. Uh, the president has made food inflation and the cost of food one of his top priorities. I have worked alongside him. I have been part of his team for many years now. I believe in his vision and his commitment to America and to his promises. And in so doing, I believe that we will be able to find in our toolkit what we need to do to solve for any hypothetical issues that end up turning out to be real moving forward over the coming months and years.

Um, well, thank you, uh, Mr. Chairman. I, I would just say that, I, I hope they're hypothetical. I do. I, I, I fear they may be all too real. Mr. Chairman, I, uh, yield back. Thank you.

Senator Klobuchar is supposedly on the way. So I'm gonna ask one question. Yes, sir. And, uh, you're welcome to answer it. And then if any, any thoughts that you have as you close, and, uh, if she's here, then we're in great shape. If not, then we're out of here. I'm available all the time. You're doing a wonderful job. Thank you for, uh, uh, this hearing has been really good. We've had great participation. And, uh, because of that, it just takes a while. Yeah, no, I'm honored. As you've heard, there's lots of questions, lots of concerns, lots of concerns in farm country. And not only that, but, you know, people forget how broad the egg, the portfolio that you're taking on. You know, we could be talking about crypto, we could be talking about a lot of stuff. You know, it's true. But, or not. But let me, let me just ask you one thing about that I don't think has come up, is the, the fact that, uh, America's producers depend on USDA's voluntary, locally led conservation programs and conservation technical assistance to implement the most effective conservation practices that meet their operations' unique resource concerns. Unfortunately, in recent years, the focus has, uh, identified a lot of other things that may be a top-down approach of pushing, prioritizing carbon sequestration related activities over water quality, erosion control, and drought mitigation. Those things are important. And yet again, what I want you to, uh, talk about is the fact that you would be committed to a voluntary, locally led, incentive-based conservation model that has served our farmers and ranchers for so many years very effectively.

I would, Senator. And I, I know we all know that the best conservationists are our farmers and ranchers, certainly from the beginning of our country. Uh, one thing I don't think I've talked about with anyone on the committee is that my family, on our farm in Minnesota, a piece of the land actually participated in one of those voluntary conservation programs. So we actually have firsthand knowledge of what that looked like and how to do it. And, and believe certainly in how important and, and, and valuable it can be. So yes, sir. I look forward to, other than my personal experience, that my sister Ann really led it, so I can't pretend to know much. But I was very, um, very, uh, grateful for her and, and our family that, uh, I don't know as much about it as I need to, and I look forward to learning more. But yes, you have my commitment that clearly that's an important piece of all of the work.

Have you got any closing comments? Or I'm sorry, I do have closing comments, but I guess I'm guessing that Senator Warnock might have another question or two. Very much. Senator Warnock, thank you so very much, Chair Boozman. Uh, just a couple more questions. And, and thank you so very much for your presentation, uh, this morning. Farmers in Georgia already talking to me. They're already concerned about potential retaliatory actions following President Trump's promises to levy heavy tariffs. They're already dealing with slim margins. As I said in my first round of questions, it's a tough business. So much you don't control. And, uh, it's not difficult to find yourselves in trouble. They're, they're dealing with slim margins due to high input costs. And the last thing they need is to be caught up in the middle of a trade war that could drive up food prices for all of us. If confirmed, what will you do from your position at USDA to ensure that Georgia's farmers and, and families aren't caught up in a trade war? Again, it's something I, and it's something I've worked on, by the way, with Republicans and with helping to get our farmers' goods to market. So it's something we think about a lot.

Senator Warnock, when I was in your office, I believe last month, we talked about your commitment to your farmers and what a priority this was to you. Georgia is a very important agriculture state. So, you know, you're, you're obviously pastoring a church and, and in the United States Senate, but I was, I was impressed at your commitment to your, uh, community in your state. And, and look forward to continuing to work with you. It's very clear that, uh, the coming tariffs, and I think there's no doubt that President Trump has been very transparent that he believes this is an extremely important tool in his toolkit to put America first, to revive the economy, to get us back, uh, to a place where he believes we need to be. And I agree with him and, and hope to help him execute that vision. But it also shouldn't be surprising that his heart and his commitment to our farmers and our agriculture community was certainly clear in the last administration. The number one answer from my perspective is working around the clock to expand market access and, and working on new trade deals and getting, uh, new partners from around the world. I have an Under Secretary already named, hopefully get him committed, confirmed, maybe committed and confirmed, Chairman Boozman, uh, but get to him confirmed very, very quickly so we can begin to build those, those teams. The President, uh, is a consummate dealmaker, and I, I feel very confident we'll be able to expand those markets, begin to peel back the trade deficit, and get back to trade surpluses, which I know we're used to. But immediately moving into the, uh, into the distribution of disaster relief, economic relief, the new farm bill that's coming out, I've already announced the Under Secretary and put the team in place to be able to deploy that.

Let me press on, uh, just, just so I have all of the time. Um, I, I agree with you that access to foreign markets is critical. And in Georgia, we've got a lot of sectors that are relying on strong export markets. Timber, poultry, pecans. Uh, are you concerned that isolationist trade practices may harm our abilities, our farmers' ability to access these foreign markets?

I have full confidence in President Trump's ability to lead us on this. And, and hopefully, he and many of you have confidence in my ability to help from the Ag perspective. All right. I, I look forward to continuing to engage you on this. If, if you're confirmed. Absolutely.

USDA has a long documented and unfortunate history of racial discrimination, even recent history. Uh, I was proud to have secured funding in the Inflation Reduction Act to provide financial assistance to farmers who had previously experienced discrimination at the hands of their USDA, uh, farm lending programs. This was a meaningful step in rebuilding trust. However, USDA still has a lot of work to do. And this will only be more difficult, more difficult following the new administration's executive order aimed at rolling back all of this progress. I was proud Congress passed my legislation in 2021 to require USDA to create an equity commission. And the commission's final report provides an excellent roadmap for continuing, uh, this work. Chair Boozman, without objection, uh, I would like to enter the USDA's 2024 Equity Report into the record. Thank you so much. When we met last month, uh, you promised to read the equity report. Have you gotten a chance to read it yet? 90 pages and 66 recommendations.

Yes, sir. That has been about a little over a month ago. So please don't ask me to quote page 66. But yes, I'm glad you got a chance to read it. I understand it's been removed, uh, from the website or, or there's not access to it. I'm glad you got a chance to read it.

Will you seriously consider the recommendations of the equity commission's report if you're confirmed, Senator?

Senator, let me answer this way. I was really appreciative of the conversation. For me, more knowledge is always best. Understanding where everyone comes from, whether I agree or disagree, recognizing what's in the past is important, but also realizing the path ahead. How the path?

Will you consider the recommendations, sir?

I will consider anything that's on the table. I think that's only fair. But I also, President Trump won on the concept of removing the diversity, equity, and inclusion, making sure that we are basing our decisions on merit. And I obviously support that 100% as well. But I look forward, Senator, to continuing to talk about this. And my friend Alvita has long talked to me about, uh, the plight of Black farmers in Georgia and other places around the country. And I'm always open to discussions, always. And may I say, there is no room for racism at the United States Department of Agriculture or any, any Ag in that regard.

Will you commit, uh, to recruiting more diverse employees who understand the communities, have relationships with these communities, so that we build trust between these communities and the lending office?

Sir, my commitment is to recruit the best workforce in the history of the United States Department of Agriculture, period. Full stop. I believe that will include many members of all different, uh, corners of our country.

Do, do, do you think a diverse workforce and a high-quality workforce are somehow oppositional objectives?

I think always hiring based on who is the best person for the job, who is going to do the most excellent service, who is best equipped to, to, uh, to execute on all of the promises, is the promise of America. But I also believe, to your point, and have long held, that ensuring that we give all people a chance to succeed and to thrive, and for equal opportunity, is a bedrock foundational principle of America.

On that, you and I agree. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Senator.

Senator Klobuchar, thank you very much. Senator Boozman, and I'm hoping these will be your last three questions. Your family looks like they might want a break for lunch, but they, they've been very good back there. I just want you to know that. How have the teenagers been? Yeah, excellent. Just, I, I haven't been able to look at them, so they haven't gotten any looks from me, so hopefully they, um, so, um, um, according to recent reports, House Republicans already eyeing nearly $300 billion in cuts to the SNAP program, roughly a 30% cut. Now, that's just so, um, and I think you've heard from some of my colleagues, um, about how this is such an issue in rural America. Um, and in my state, as Senator Smith pointed out, our actual hunger rate is higher in rural, um, than it is in the metropolitan areas. What kind of an impact do you think a $300 billion cut would have to, uh, SNAP? And if confirmed, will you commit to supporting robust funding for USDA's nutrition program?

Senator, thank you. My commitment will always be to ensuring that these programs are effective and efficient. And I, I think I spoke from the heart, and I, and I mean this sincerely, the, the importance of our leadership as a bipartisan body to ensure that those with the least among us are ably supported and don't go hungry. This is the United States of America. I don't yet know what the numbers look like. I need to really dig down. But my commitment to you is that we will talk about this until the very last minute. I will always be open to you, and that I look forward to, uh, ensuring that we're able to do what the original and core tenets of that program are called to do.

And I'll follow up this on this in a written question, but I do want to know if you believe SNAP benefits should be calculated based on current food costs.

Um, so, well, I will say that obviously current food costs, you know, the, the importance of the inputs into the program and understanding where the market is, will always be a priority. Okay.

Congress made significant investments in climate-smart agriculture through the Inflation Reduction Act, giving more farmers access to popular conservation programs. So we had a situation where a bunch of the farm groups actually was, were supportive of this part of the IRA. Uh, I've always led bipartisan legislation on conservation, working with our hunting and fishing groups. One of the bills I have has been, uh, with Senator Thune, uh, based on voluntary conservation, uh, program participation. Uh, a recent executive, executive order, uh, issued just, of course, in the last two days, uh, to pause disbursements from the Inflation Reduction Act would put some of these plans that I mentioned, CRP plans and the like, uh, in jeopardy. Uh, what is your understanding of the impact of these executive orders? And will these orders to slow IRA disbursements impact farmers looking to use voluntary conservation programs?

My commitment is to, obviously, understand, uh, exactly what the target and the, uh, goal of that executive order is. I have not been read in on that yet, but I will be. And then ensuring that that aligns with, uh, what is stated in that executive order. Again, the President Trump and our administration's heart is with the rural communities and the agriculture communities, uh, and ensuring that, uh, there's full understanding and data to support what this will do. Of course, not surprisingly, Senator Klobuchar, I think the president has been very clear on his priorities on, on climate programs and whether taxpayer dollars should be supporting those. So, you know, the robust conversation I think that we will have is to follow, and I look forward to that. And you have my commitment that I'm always available to discuss that and to represent, uh, interests where appropriate in those discussions with the White House. Okay. Thank you.

And, um, also just wanted to thank you for your commitment to the next generation of farmers and ranchers. As you know, the average age is well, not quite as old as the U.S. Senate, but, uh, it has been, uh, creeping up. And we need new people to go into agriculture. And I hope, just with your background, uh, and your FAA involvement and the like, uh, I think that would be among your many priorities, uh, would be a really smart thing to go around and talk about. And I know there's plenty of people on our side of the aisle that would join us, join you, in, in that focus. So thank you.

Thank you, Senator. I want to thank, uh, Mrs. Rollins for appearing before the committee today. And also like to thank Ranking Member Klobuchar and all the members of the committee for the great participation that we had today. The Ranking Member and I have agreed that questions for the record would be due by 6 p.m. tomorrow. This concludes today's hearing. Thank you so much. Thank you. What an honor to be here. Thank you. Thank you.