Rollins reports easier time at Senate Ag hearing

When Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins spoke to the International Fresh Produce Association over breakfast on Wednesday, she told the fruit and vegetable executives that while she planned to discuss five topics, she would prefer to stay and discuss 50 topics and “not go” to the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing later that morning. 

Rollins was probably reacting to her experience last week when she endured tough questioning from Democrats at a House Agriculture Committee hearing. 

But the Senate Agriculture Committee treated Rollins so gingerly that she told reporters afterwards that the Senate hearing had been much easier than the House experience. Rollins attributed the difference to the Senate committee having fewer members than the House committee, but in reality both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate committee were more polite than the House Agriculture Committee members.

Just as she had at the House Agriculture Committee, Rollins told the Senate Agriculture Committee that the Biden administration was responsible for agriculture’s problems.

But while the House Agriculture Committee members told her that the Trump administration has been in office long enough to take responsibility for farmers’ current problems, some Senate Agriculture Committee Republicans agreed with her and praised her performance, particularly on handling the New World screwworm issue while Democrats mostly ignored her statements about the previous administration.

Rollins did encounter some pushback when Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., asked her about grocery costs and she again blamed the Biden administration. Warnock said, “Do you realize, Madam Secretary, how sterile that answer sounds? Two years later that’s your answer.”

Rollins also indicated she is not willing to accept criticism for making it harder for people to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest anti-hunger program. Warnock had told her that the Trump administration had “celebrated” taking 3.5 million people off SNAP, but Rollins corrected him, pointing out that the number of people who have left the SNAP program is 4.5 million. Rollins said the decline in the SNAP roles was due to higher wages or people deciding not to sign up for the program. 

Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Jim Justice, R-W.Va., both told Rollins that they fear the farmers’ problems are so bad that big changes are needed, but Rollins responded that she still thinks the future for farmers is bright. 

Several senators also pushed Rollins to take a stronger position to convince senators to vote to pass E15, a higher ethanol fuel blend, year round and nationwide. 

Rollins repeatedly argued for increasing the Commodity Credit Corporation’s $30 billion borrowing limit — the USDA’s line of credit at the Treasury — to aid farmers. She noted that USDA will need to use the CCC account to make payments based on the farm subsidy programs increased through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.  

When Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Rollins how the recently announced delay in the effective date of the Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems final rule would help small producers, Rollins said she would have to get back to him on that issue. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, the committee’s ranking member, told Rollins “many of us believe that you can be a voice of reason when it comes to [farm] issues with the administration. We know that you have expressed views in the past about the effect this is having on the farm economy. But right now, I fear, and many of us fear, and many farmers fear that these voices of reason are falling on deaf ears.”