Post

Whither USDA?

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has hit the ground running, naming his former Iowa chief of staff to that same role at USDA, putting Carole Jett, long-time USDA veteran, in the deputy chief of staff slot, and picking Hill policy phenom and Obama rural outreach leader, Dave Lazarus, to be his special assistant. Folks are in place as acting under secretaries, so the USDA train continues to chug along.

So far, Vilsack has pulled back a couple of rules that folks aren’t too crazy about — the White House ordered all Bush Administration rules to be reviewed for possible erasure or revisiting. County-of-origin labeling (COOL) is being examined, which has to be a bit off-putting to Rep. Collin Peterson (D, MN), chair of the House Ag Committee, who sweat blood to get a compromise authorization in the 2008 Farm Bill. What Peterson thought was behind him apparently ain’t.

Farm Bill implementation aside, however, the question on everyone’s mind is who gets the subcabinet slots? The fear is that the Obama team picked a good, solid, centrist secretary, but may put some of the ideologues I’ve warned about before in critical positions.

Under secretary for food safety and the head of the Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) need to be solid scientists with management experience. They should not be plucked from DC-based consumer groups or from other organizations with serious axes to grind or long, long wish lists.

The under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs needs to be a person with an affinity for and understanding of all components of agriculture. This job is perhaps the toughest within the subcabinet, and the person running the ship has to embrace science and technology, while understanding the growing presence of organic and natural food production. This person cannot bring a political or personal agenda to the job.

The food and nutrition under secretary slot needs someone with first hand knowledge not only of federal feeding programs and the school lunch program, but of private and industry efforts working to ensure those that need food assistance get it.

The rural affairs czar must be someone who can bring innovative ideas to bear on revitalizing rural communities, from broadband access to employment to keeping young people on the farm and not on the road to the cities.

I’ve heard good names and bad names for the subcabinet slots. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that good triumphs.

***

The vote this week on the House economic stimulus package signals there’s serious trouble in the paradise that is the Democrat-controlled House. Every single Republican voted against the package as too expensive, too much pork and too little true investment in jobs creation. The startling thing is that the GOP pulled nearly a dozen Democrats to their side of the vote.

GOP leadership during floor statements and after made it clear the vote against the package was not a rebuke of President Obama, but had everything to do with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D,CA) public statements on “civility and bipartisanship,” and her undisguised disregard for the GOP and their role in shaping an economic stimulus package.

Her rationale: The American people agree with us (the Democrats) because they gave us the majority in Congress.

Ms. Pelosi should remember that those who give can just as easily take away.