WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) — President-elect Donald Trump Saturday announced his intent to name Brooke Rollins of Texas, the president and CEO of the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute, to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country,” Trump said in a statement.
Trump’s statement said Rollins is a graduate of Texas A&M University, with an undergraduate degree in agriculture development.
“From her upbringing in the small and Agriculture-centered town of Glen Rose, Texas, to her years of leadership involvement with Future Farmers of America and 4H, to her generational Family Farming background, to guiding her four kids in their show cattle careers, Brooke has a practitioner’s experience, along with deep Policy credentials in both Nonprofit and Government leadership at the State and National levels,” the statement said.
Multiple news reports Friday had quoted sources close to Trump saying he would name former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican, as secretary of agriculture.
Billions in spending
Rollins, if confirmed by the Senate, would run a crucial agency that administers roughly $213 billion in mandatory and discretionary funding. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa.
USDA manages food safety practices, conducts agriculture and conservation research, handles farm management and administers the government’s largest food benefits program for low-income families, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The agency also provides federal grants for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC.
During the first Trump administration, Rollins served in several roles, including with the Domestic Policy Council. She was also director of the Office of American Innovation, and assistant to the president for strategic initiatives, the statement said.
“In these roles, she developed and managed the transformational domestic policy agenda of the Trump Administration, leading to historic achievements for the American people,” according to her biography.
A conservative lawyer, Rollins earned her law degree at the University of Texas. Rollins later served as the policy director for former Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who was the secretary of Energy in the first Trump administration.
Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation — a conservative think tank — for 15 years.
Farm bill at a standstill
One big effort for the next secretary is to work with Congress to finalize the delayed farm bill that sets agriculture and conservation policy for the next five years. A big portion of the farm bill consists of the nutrition program, or SNAP.
USDA is also implementing portions of the Biden administration’s climate and clean energy program, known as the Inflation Reduction Act. Over the next five years, the IRA will provide USDA with about$20 billion for conservation programs that mitigate climate change.
Republicans have been critical of the climate law, and have vowed to claw back some of the funds.
Rollins is likely to work closely with former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump says he will nominate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, if confirmed by the Senate, has publicly voiced his plans to influence the agriculture industry.
