Sonny Perdue faces proposed deep budget cuts as new ag secretary

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue was confirmed Monday as secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, bringing into President Donald Trump's cabinet an experienced politician with deep support among agricultural interests.

Perdue faced few obstacles to confirmation - the vote was 87-11 - after a collegial confirmation hearing last month before the Senate Agriculture Committee, where some senators used their testimony time to raise questions about Trump's budget, which proposes deep cuts for the USDA.

Perdue has received a thumbs up from food and agricultural groups nationwide, including the American Farm Bureau and the National Restaurant Association.

But he now will have to contend with Trump's proposals for the USDA, which could disproportionately affect rural residents and farmers nationwide, putting him in between the White House's priorities and those of farmers who helped elect Trump.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who in January tweeted a concern over how Midwest interests would 'have a seat at the table” with an ag secretary from the South, soon met with Perdue and began supporting him publicly.

'I plan to work closely with the new secretary on American trade interests, especially with regard to agricultural exports,” Grassley said in a statement Monday. 'U.S. farmers rely on existing export markets for much of their livelihood, and they deserve access to new markets wherever it makes sense.”

Joni Ernst, Iowa's other GOP senator, said in a statement she looks 'forward to working with Gov. Perdue to cut red-tape for Iowa's agricultural industry, while also promoting our agricultural bounty abroad, and collaborating on the next Farm Bill.”

Perdue replaces Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa Democratic governor who served in the Obama administration.

During his confirmation hearing last month, Perdue told concerned senators he supports many of the USDA programs that would be cut by Trump's budget, particularly those that focus on research and rural infrastructure. The administration has proposed cutting $4.7 billion from the USDA's 2018 budget, or 20 percent of its discretionary spending.

Perdue, whose confirmation stalled for months, did not have a hand in crafting that budget. At his confirmation hearing, he sought to assuage senators' concerns with large rural constituencies, promising to 'do everything in my power” to 'manage” Trump's priorities against the needs of small towns and farmers.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Mich., the committee's ranking Democrat, said Trump so far has treated rural America as an afterthought.

'For months, rural America has not had a voice in this administration and frankly it shows,” she said Monday. 'President Trump's budget proposal makes it clear that rural America is not a priority for this administration.”

Although Perdue got considerable support in the Senate and from agricultural interest groups, ethics watchdogs raised concerns about his business holdings.

During his tenure as governor from 2003 to 2011, he declined to place his business interests in a blind trust and regularly came up against the state ethics commission. More than a dozen ethics complaints were filed.

Despite those concerns, no members of the committee questioned his ethics record. Perdue has agreed to organize his business holdings into a trust that will not benefit him or his wife.

Staff from The Gazette contributed to this report.