WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry, today delivered the following opening statement at the hearing to consider the nomination of Brooke Rollins to be Secretary of Agriculture.
A rough transcript of Klobuchar’s full opening statement is available below and a video can be downloaded here.
Senator Klobuchar: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and we welcome you, Mrs. Rollins, thank you. Your entire family that seems to take up like 10 rows as well as your FFA officers, it's kind of an incredible group there. And your ag teacher. I want to thank Senator Boozman for holding this important nomination hearing. Thank you to our colleagues from Texas who are here.
Senator Boozman 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 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 Boozman mentioned, Senator Schiff and Senator Slotkin. They've been already really strong participants in all of these discussions we've been having, and Senator Moran, as well as Senator Justice, thank you. We're looking forward to continuing the strong tradition of bipartisanship.
Mrs. 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 America: 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 healthcare 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 that Mrs. Rollins will make the case for sensible trade policy that will work for our farmers in 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 [questions] on that front.
As a 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, which 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 Mrs. Rollins your plans for the Department of Agriculture. Thank you very much, and thank you to our colleagues.
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