Ag Department nominee Perdue facing more delays

WASHINGTON, DC — Farm groups are pushing the U.S. Senate to vote on Sonny Perdue’s confirmation as Agriculture secretary this week before senators go on an extended break, but the odds of Perdue getting cleared before the Easter break seem slim.

The Senate is expected to spend the entire week grappling with the nomination of federal Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The fight over Gorsuch could tie up the Senate and shut down consideration of political nominees or other issues as the two political parties fight over the number of votes required to advance Gorsuch’s nomination.

Perdue, 70, the former governor of Georgia, was the last cabinet secretary nomination named by President Donald Trump in January. Critical background paperwork on Perdue did not make it to the Senate until last month.

Perdue’s nomination finally moved out of the Senate Agriculture Committee last Thursday by a voice vote with only Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., voicing opposition. [1]

He’s certainly off to a strong start — even though it may be a few more weeks before the full Senate will vote on his nomination and likely confirmation. Once at the helm of USDA, he’ll face much stronger opposition on many of his key issues. [2]

SOURCES
[1] Chris Clayton; DTN; April 4, 2017; [2] Sarah Wyant; AgWeek; April 3, 2017.

TAKE NOTE

Perdue is pro horse slaughter. It is said in Washington that expectations are high that as head of Ag Perdue will be working to return horse slaughter to US soil.

To fight this, it is critical that we get as many co-sponsors for HR 113, the SAFE Act, as possible.

Whether or not the SAFE Act becomes law, big support for it will demonstrate how much support there is against horse slaughter which will be critical — as it always is — when it is time to keep the defunding language for horse meat inspections in the annual Agriculture spending bill.

TAKE ACTION

• Go to The Horse Fund’s page at PopVox.com to support HR 113 »

• See also Take Action in the Nation’s Capital Against Horse Slaughter »

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US Agriculture Secretary Nominee Sonny Perdue. Image source: NBC News.