Jan. 23 (UPI) — Secretary of Agriculture nominee Brooke Rollins on Thursday promised to protect the nation’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities if confirmed by the Senate during her confirmation hearing.
Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee questioned Rollins about bird flu, immigration, biofuels and the nation’s growing agricultural trade deficit.
“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,” Rollins told the committee. “That has led to many challenges, including food inflation.”
She said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has many available tools to expand markets to eliminate the trade deficit and she immediately would work to lower it.
If confirmed, Rollins said she will ensure the USDA can “bring in new trade partners to expand access for new trade products and all [ag products], whether it’s specialty crops or the row crops or the livestock industry,” Politico reported.
Ag Committee ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked how Rollins might address the bird flu outbreak that has contributed to fast-rising egg prices throughout the nation.
Rollins said the current and future USDA teams will work together to continue addressing the matter and do all they can to protect the nation’s food supply against bird flu and other types of animal disease.
Rollins’ family is involved in the oil industry in Texas, which prompted Klobuchar to ask if that might influence Rollins’ position on biofuels.
“Anyone that has ever worked with me will tell you … that I have never not ever made a decision based on financial interest — ever,” Rollins said. “That certainly will not begin now.”
She said she would be a “champion for all fuels” if confirmed.
“My role is to defend, honor and elevate our entire ag community in the Oval Office … to ensure that every decision made has that front of mind,” Rollins said.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., questioned Rollins’ potential support for mass deportations.
He said Illinois farmers and ag producers depend on immigrants to maintain profitability and stay in business.
“Forty percent of farm workers are undocumented,” Durbin said. “If they are deported, what are the farmers going to do?”
Durbin said a third-generation dairy farmer told him his family’s dairy operation would go out of business if their undocumented workers were deported.
“Can we expect this administration to be raiding farms and going after the immigrant farm workers?” Durbin asked.
Rollins said she shares President Donald Trump’s immigration priorities, which is to deport criminals and anyone presenting a threat.
She said she also would prioritize modernizing the nation’s visa program that enables migrants to temporarily work agricultural jobs in the United States.
Rollins said she would make Trump aware of any potential effects on the nation’s agricultural sector that mass deportations or other policies might cause.
“At the end of the day, we all know [Trump] to be the consummate deal-maker,” Rollins said.
Rollins is an attorney and former adviser to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
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