President Trump sent the Senate a long list of nominees today including Tyler Clarkson of Virginia to be general counsel at the Agriculture Department, Scott Hutchins of Indiana to be agriculture undersecretary for research, education and economics, and Brian Quintenz of Ohio to be chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. 

Clarkson worked as USDA deputy general counsel and acting general counsel in the first Trump administration.

Hutchins served as REE deputy undersecretary during the first Trump administration, and ran the REE division when Trump nominated Sam Clovis, a talk radio host and political activist without scientific background to be REE undersecretary. Clovis eventually withdrew his nomination. 

According to his LinkedIn page, Hutchins has been an independent consultant since leaving USDA.

According to his USDA biography, Hutchins is a board-certified entomologist who was an adjunct professor of entomology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received a bachelor of science in entomology from Auburn University, a master of science in entomology from Mississippi State University, and a Ph.D. in entomology from Iowa State University. He also worked in the private sector. 

Quintenz served as a Senate-confirmed CFTC commissioner from 2017 to 2021. He is  the head of policy for a16z crypto, the crypto venture funds of Andreessen Horowitz.

In a statement on Linked In, Quintenz said, “It is my great honor to be nominated by President Trump as the next chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where I had served as a commissioner in his last administration.”

“The CFTC plays a critical role in maintaining robust hedging and price discovery markets that are the envy of the globe. The agency is also well poised to ensure the USA leads the world in blockchain technology and innovation. I look forward to working with President Trump’s incredible financial regulatory team.”

The CFTC is under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate agriculture committees. 

Among Trump’s Interior Department nominees are Kathleen Sgamma, who heads the Western Energy Alliance, a Denver-based oil and gas industry trade group, to be director of the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees land important to agriculture, and Brian Nesvik, former director of Wyoming Game and Fish, to be director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Trump’s nominees forwarded to the Senate today include former Rep. Peter Hoekstra, D-Mich., to be ambassador to Canada.