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Tom Vilsack. Picture: Collected[/caption]
On Tuesday (Feb 23, 2021) the Senate confirmed Tom Vilsack as President Joe Biden's agriculture secretary, sending the former Iowa governor to the same Cabinet position he served for the entirety of the Obama administration.
The 100-member Senate approved Vilsack 92-7. He needed a simple majority in the Democratic-controlled chambers to be sure.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Vilsack made clear the challenges facing the Department of Agriculture are different than 12 years ago.
"The world and our nation are different today than when I served as agriculture secretary in a previous administration," Vilsack said. "Today, the pandemic, racial justice and equity and climate change must be our priorities."
Biden announced the pick in December, praising Vilsack for his effort implementing the Recovery Act after the Great Recession, expanding markets for farmers, improving food safety standards and helping "millions of children and families receive health meals."
As secretary of the sprawling department, Vilsack will oversee about 100,000 employees responsible for food stamps, crop insurance, land conservation and other missions at a time U.S. farmers are benefiting from high soybean and corn prices but hunger is on the rise throughout America.
Vilsack has said the White House wants to tap a pool of funds from the agency’s Commodity Credit Corporation to support on-the-farm efforts to fight climate change, a policy priority for new President Joe Biden.
The Depression-era program of up to $30 billion in annual funding was tapped by the Trump administration to distribute billions of dollars in aid to cover farmers’ lost sales due to trade wars, primarily with China.
Vilsack must also confront the Coronavirus pandemic, which has reduced restaurant demand for farm products and led to long lines at food banks.
In 1998, Vilsack became the first Democrat elected governor of Iowa in more than 30 years. He served as governor from 1999 to 2007 and chaired the Democratic Governors Association for a year. In 2009, the Senate unanimously confirmed Vilsack to be agriculture secretary.
After stepping down in 2017, Vilsack became the president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
Source: REUTERS, CNN.
/SZK
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