By Clint Thompson
Confirmation hearings are currently ongoing for presidential nominees made by President Donald Trump. Two, in particular, are being closely monitored by the agricultural community and were highlighted last week during the Alabama-Florida Peanut Trade Show by Bob Redding.
Redding, who works for the Redding Firm and serves as a lobbyist for agricultural groups in Washington, D.C., expressed optimism about both nominees and the potential impact they will have for agricultural commodities in the Southeast.
“Two nominations that are really critical for us. One is Secretary of Agriculture. Nominee (Brooke) Rollins had her hearing. She’s very popular, and she’s going to pass the Senate with all the republican votes most likely and a lot of democratic votes. We feel good about that,” said Redding.
“The other one I’ll mention that’s not talked about a lot, their hearing is coming up soon and that is Jamieson Greer. He’s the nominee for U.S. Trade Representative. Greer was chief of state for Bob Lighthizer, ambassador Lighthizer, when he served President Trump in the first term. He gets production agriculture as a trade lawyer. He served multiple commodities in agriculture, and he does understand production agriculture and some of those commodities were in the Southeast. We know he’s a fighter, a technician. He understands the process, and we think he’ll do a great job for agriculture.”
The Senate Agriculture Committee approved Trump’s nomination of Rollins to be agriculture secretary on Monday.