The Senate Agriculture Committee is set to advance the nomination of Brooke Rollins as agriculture secretary this week, while the Senate Finance Committee will take up the far more controversial nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of health and human services.
USDA has been without a Senate-confirmed leader even as highly pathogenic avian influenza continues to hammer the poultry sector, and agencies deal with the flurry of Trump administration orders aimed at reshaping spending priorities and slashing the federal workforce.
The committee has scheduled a brief meeting off the Senate floor Monday evening to vote on the Rollins nomination. Both her confirmation hearing and the floor debate were delayed due to paperwork concerns.
The Finance Committee has scheduled a vote Tuesday morning on the Kennedy's nomination. A key committee member to watch is Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a gastroenterologist who challenged Kennedy over his longstanding opposition to vaccines.
In addition to the HPAI outbreak, Rollins also may be forced to deal quickly with the fallout of Trump’s new tariffs announced Saturday on Canada, Mexico and China. At her Jan. 23 confirmation hearing, Rollins said she was already preparing to have a plan ready for compensating farmers for the impact of a trade war.
Trump’s latest tariffs are certain to be a major topic as the Senate Finance Committee meets Thursday to consider his nominee for U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer. He was former USTR Robert Lighthizer’s chief of staff during Trump’s first term and had a hand in several of the administration’s signature trade efforts – including retooling the free-trade agreement with South Korea, negotiating the phase one agreement with China and securing congressional approval for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement
The new tariffs, which will hit Canadian fertilizer exports, come as the farm economy will get a new focus this week. USDA on Thursday will issue its first forecast of farm income for 2025.
In December, USDA estimated net farm income for 2024 dropped 6.3% to $140.7 billion but still above the 20-year average from 2004-2023 of $121.4 billion. Net cash farm income, a measure that more closely tracks farmers' cash flow, dropped 3.5% lower in 2024 to $158.8 billion. The totals mask stark differences between earnings from crops and livestock products. Crop growers have been dealing with both depressed commodity markets and elevated input costs.
Ahead of the new forecast, the Senate Agriculture Committee will put a focus on the on the farm economy with witnesses representing major row crops as well as American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall and National Farmers Union President Rob Larew.
The groups that will be represented at the hearing: National Cotton Council, National Corn Growers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Barley Growers Association, National Sorghum Producers, American Soybean Association, U.S. Peanut Federation, American Sugarbeet Growers Association and USA Rice.
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Also this week, the House returns from a one-week break with Republican lawmakers still trying to reach agreement on plans for a budget resolution and subsequent reconciliation legislation. According to the Washington Post, GOP leaders have decided they don’t have to offset the revenue lost from extending expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The House Agriculture Committee would be assigned $50 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Program under the GOP leadership plan, according to the report. The Energy and Commerce Committee would be assigned $200 billion in cuts.
It’s not clear if hardline conservatives will go along with the plan not to offset the cost of extending tax cuts.
Some conservative hardliners have been demanding much deeper spending cuts.
The leadership of the Republican Study Committee issued a statement last week saying, “Reconciliation legislation must reduce the federal budget deficit. Our national security depends on our ability to bring about meaningful fiscal reform.”
Here is a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EST):
Monday, Feb. 3
5:45 p.m. – Senate Agriculture Committee meeting to consider the nomination of Brooke Rollins to be secretary of agriculture, S-216 Capitol.
Tuesday, Feb. 4
CattleCon 2025, San Antonio, Texas.
10 a.m. – Senate Finance Committee meeting to consider the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of health and human services, 215 Dirksen.
Wednesday, Feb. 5
Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau annual meeting, through Friday, Bonita Springs, Fla.
10:30 a.m. – Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the farm economy, 106 Dirksen.
Thursday, Feb. 6
8:30 a.m. – USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.
10 a.m. – Senate Finance Committee hearing on the nomination of Jamieson Greer to be U.S. trade representative, 215 Dirksen.
11 a.m. – USDA releases the Farm Income Forecast.
Friday, Feb. 7
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