Posted on 11/27/2020 6:50:36 PM PST by RummyChick
.....”This is about Black farmer “reparations” and food stamps”......
Worth repeating.
I would think the guy who mows the grass at the cemetery would be a logical pick.
Clyburn is a wiley old Democrat political shit and hate-filled lying bastard. Fudge is a good leftist.
Can we call Clyburn’s choice of Marsha Fudge, “ Fudge-Packing”?
Pick the Mooch. She was into growing healthy food. But naw, she is way TOO LAZY.
It’s about to become a moot point, but it is fun to watch how the Democrats behave when they believe they have the power.
USDA is a consortium of agencies that do an amazing variety of things. Most of these functions operate quietly in the background. We take them for granted. USDA's biggest agency in terms of personnel is the U.S. Forest Service. Then there are the folks who monitor food safety; they do a terrific job and, while there are inevitably occasional issues, the U.S. has one of the safest food systems in the world. There's APHIS, which I wish would be put in control of immigration; APHIS is lethal, though battling invasive species is a near-impossibility in the modern world. (The reason we aren't much troubled by, for example, mad cow disease or 101 other potentially devastating animal contagions is APHIS, which swoops in at the first outbreak and slaughters everything within range of potential exposure. APHIS is very good at this.) There are the conservation programs, which do excellent work (as long as the environmental extremist activist groups can be contained). There are the basic scientific research folks, who work very closely with ag science people in the land grant colleges and the big corporate players. USDA monitors and grades food imports and exports. It has an old and honorable history in supporting rural infrastructure; the reason you can travel across the country on an interstate highway and count on having electricity, running water, and indoor plumbing at your stops outside the big cities is the Rural Utilities Service. The rural electrics, for example, cover three quarters of the U.S. landmass; we wouldn't have a national electrical grid without them. The "farm programs," which draw a lot of fire, are a relatively small part of the budget and today consist largely of subsidized crop insurance, as direct subsidies are not WTO compliant and were dropped years ago.
Then there are food and nutrition programs, which are the lion's share of the USDA budget and the only thing that urban Democrats care about. That's the nub of the appointment issue. Does Biden want a Secretary of Agriculture who is interested in what most of USDA actually does and who is committed to rural and small town America, or does he want a Secretary of Food Stamps who is entirely preoccupied with income redistribution?
Just after the election, the first speculation was that Chellie Pingree of Maine would get this nod. I thought it was strange due to the fact that Chellie’s only ag qualifications is that she has a an organic garden at he North Haven Island, Maine house and why was agsec the first appointment people were talking about. Turns out she staying in congress.
Separately, I am surprised any congress people are being considered for posts since the breakdown between parties is so close. Take five dem congress people out of the mix and Nancy does not have the votes for re-election. Although some of those would be from seat the reps could never win, you are gambling with other seats of a flip.
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