"For the Purpose of Receiving Testimony from The Honorable Brooke L. Rollins, Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture"
2025-06-11
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Source: Congress.gov
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Committee will come to order. Welcome and thank you all for joining today's hearing, where we will hear from Secretary Rawlins from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After brief opening remarks, members will receive testimony from our witness today, and then the hearing will open to questions. So, once again, good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you all to today's hearing and extend a special thanks to the Honorable Brooke Rawlins for joining us for her first appearance before this committee as our 33rd Secretary of Agriculture. I'm proud to call her a friend and deeply appreciative of the leadership she has shown in just a few short months on the job. Madam Secretary, we're truly grateful to have you with us today. This committee is dedicated to the prosperity and long-term sustainability of rural America. Our nation's farmers, ranchers, and foresters are the fundamental piece of America's number one industry, which clothes and feeds millions of American families and billions around the world. And that is why Congress came together at the end of last year to provide a meaningful relief with $21 billion to address weather-related losses in 2023 and 2024, and another $10 billion to help offset sustained economic losses impacting producers. I'm grateful to Secretary Rawlins for the work she has done and will continue to do to get those dollars out the door and ensure that help reaches the producers who need it most. Largely thanks to these investments and a renewed emphasis on expanding global markets, recent USDA forecasts show net farm income stabilizing for 2025. Those dollars, while not enough to make producers whole, were enough for many to keep the lights on and obtain credit to farm another year. However, input costs remain high and commodity prices continue to soften, and forced-cast margins, working capital, and debt loads continue to deteriorate.
Our work to support America's farmers and ranchers is not yet complete. Over the past several years, the producers we represent have withstood unprecedented mix of adversity, a global pandemic, record inflation, supply chain disruptions, animal disease, and natural disasters. And yet they've continued to deliver the safest, most abundant, and most affordable food supply in the world. Well, that's not something that we take for granted. It is something we must support through sound policy, stable markets, and a strong USDA. That said, we have plenty to discuss this morning, Madam Secretary. We're eager to hear your plans to make USDA more efficient, particularly as it relates to reorganization efforts, ensuring that there is not a disruption to customer service. We're also interested in your strategy to support producers with today's challenging trade environment and animal health risks. As you and the President work to lower barriers and open new markets, and we navigate these issues together, I trust you'll continue to keep the interests of the American agriculture front and center. We're turning the page to a new chapter for American agriculture, one where new scientific breakthroughs in technology will work hand-in-hand with tradition, stewardship, and grit to address the challenges at hand and build on the legacy of resilience and innovation driven by our farmers and ranchers. As part of that new chapter, it is incumbent on Congress to do our job. The One Big Beautiful Bill is a critical down payment on meaningful change for America, but it's just the beginning. We must also deliver a full Farm Bill reauthorization that provides certainty and long-term support for our producers. Once we complete the reconciliation process, we will build on that foundation with a comprehensive farm bill later this year. Secretary Rollins, I know that you bring to this role a deep belief in the power of rural America and the American farmer.
We share that belief. I know that we are aligned in our commitment to the people in this country who produce as well as those who consume. As we begin this conversation today, I want to underscore my hope and expectation that the relationship between this committee and the Department of Agriculture will be a strong, productive partnership. The future of our food supply, our environment, and our economy depends on it. With that, I thank you again, Secretary Rawlins, for your service and your testimony. I now yield to the ranking member of Craig from the great state of Minnesota for her opening remarks.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to welcome Secretary Rawlins to our committee hearing today. She reminded me in the back room that she spent every summer in Minnesota, so has a deep connection to my home state as well. Doing right by our family farmers requires working across the aisle. That's been a trademark of this committee over time, and that's how successful farm bills usually function. Traditionally, USDA has reflected that commitment as well. By supporting our family farmers as they grow food that feeds our country and the world, ensuring our food is safe to eat, stopping the spread of animal disease, and innovating the future of food and agriculture. However, I am genuinely concerned that under this administration, agricultural policymaking has become more partisan and polarized. This reckless push to cut nearly $300 billion in funding to a title of the Farm Bill instead of prioritizing getting a 12-title, five-year Farm Bill across the finish line is of particular concern to this committee. and it has put the bipartisan Farm Bill in jeopardy.
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