Senate Confirms Brooke Rollins to Lead USDA
Was approved in a 72-28 vote Thursday; approach to rural broadband issues was not prominently discussed in hearings.
Blake Ledbetter, Associated Press
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2025 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture officially has a new leader in the Trump Administration.
Former Trump staffer Brooke Rollins was confirmed Thursday in the Senate to be Agriculture Secretary, winning with a 72-28 vote. She was unanimously approved by the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee last week.
The USDA is in charge of the ReConnect Program, which since 2018 has provided $5.63 billion in loans and grants to subsidize the financial burden of broadband deployment in rural America. The program is currently awarding fifth round recipients, and has already given out over $516 million for projects in this round alone.
Rollins talked in her confirmation hearing about “the opportunity to put forward a vision and build a program around revivifying, restoring and bringing back rural America.” However, it is unknown what Rollins’ plan is for the ReConnect program.
Rollins served as chief for domestic policy in Trump’s first administration, and more recently was the president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative pro-Trump think tank.
Other issues in portfolio
Rollins will now lead a department tasked with overseeing nearly all aspects of the nation's food system, including standards on farming practices and livestock rearing, federal subsidies to farmers or agribusinesses and setting nutrition standards for schools and public health officials nationwide.
The Department of Agriculture was at the center of Trump's trade war in his last administration, when it increased subsidies to farmers growing the nation's two biggest crops, corn and soybeans, after retaliatory tariffs were levied by China on the grains and international markets were disrupted. The United States is the world's largest food exporter.
Other America First Policy Institute alums in the administration include the group's chair, Linda McMahon, who was tapped to lead the Education Department, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, among others.
As the acting director of the White House Domestic Policy Council during Trump’s first term, she oversaw a portfolio that included agriculture policy. She also served as president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Rollins' nomination was unanimously approved by the Senate's agriculture committee. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., called Rollins a “superstar” while Rollins' home state senators, Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, testified on her behalf ahead of her confirmation hearing.
Rollins promised to “modernize” USDA in line with Trump's vision for the department that included faster procession of disaster aid for farmers and tackling animal diseases. She also vowed to “immediately begin to modernize, realign, rethink the United States Department of Agriculture" on policies like remote work, in line with the Trump administration's broader stance.
Divisions over foreign aid, trade policy
Democrats expressed concern that federal funding freezes had disrupted aid to farmers and land grant universities and pressed Rollins on how her support for farming communities may clash with Trump's immigration and trade agenda.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the ranking member of the agriculture committee, pressed Rollins on how she would respond to retaliatory tariffs on U.S. crops, given Trump's previous trade wars.
“Beyond just getting extra payments to make up for it, will you be a voice to make sure people understand the importance of exports for rural America? And it’s not just farming but manufacturing and the like,” Klobuchar asked.
Rollins promised that her team “would be at the table fighting for what we believe is necessary for these communities.
“Of all of the portfolio that, if confirmed, I am taking on, the one that excites me the most is the opportunity to put forward a vision and build a program around revivifying, restoring and bringing back rural America,” Rollins said. She cautioned that “clearly, the federal government itself can't do that” but said that an “all approach” would be needed to help rural communities.
Associated Press Writers Matt Brown and Scott McFetridge contributed to this article.
