Vilsack Confirmation Moves to Full Senate

After about four hours of hearings on Tuesday, the Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously signed off on Tom Vilsack’s confirmation as the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack was quick to recognize that today is a “fundamentally different time” than his previous stint in the position in the Obama Administration and spoke to a few issues of critical importance to agriculture ranging from COVID-19 recovery and climate change to country-of-origin labeling (COOL) and the ethanol industry. He also addressed the issue of discrimination and called for future USDA operations and programs to operate with “zero tolerance for discrimination.” Vilsack’s confirmation now moves to the full Senate, where it’s expected to approved with bipartisan support. See more on Tuesday’s confirmation hearing.