Two nominees for key USDA roles advanced out of the Senate Agriculture Committee in Wednesday votes, while two others received committee hearings.
The Senate Agriculture Committee voted to send President Trump’s nominations of Luke Lindberg to be Agriculture undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs and Devon Westhill to be Agriculture assistant secretary for civil rights to the full Senate. Both nominations head to full Senate for confirmation. NCC recently joined dozens of food and agriculture organizations in supporting Lindberg’s nomination. Lindberg is currently South Dakota Trade’s CEO and a senior fellow at America First Policy and Westhill was previously USDA’s top civil rights official in the first Trump administration.
Also on Wednesday, two nominees to lead USDA’s regulatory and research programs faced questioning from the Senate Agriculture Committee – Dudley Hoskins the nominee for undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs and Scott Hutchins to be undersecretary for research, education and economics. The hearing can be viewed by clicking here. NCC recently joined dozens of agriculture organizations in urging the committee to advance Hoskins’ nomination in a timely manner. He currently serves as counsel on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. He previously spent four years at USDA during President Trump’s first term, as chief of staff for marketing and regulatory programs and as senior advisor to the Secretary.
