Confirmation Hearing Held for Two USDA Nominees

Confirmation Hearing Held for Two USDA Nominees The Senate Agriculture Committee held a confirmation hearing Tuesday for Steve Censky, the nominee for deputy agriculture secretary, and Ted McKinney, the nominee for the newly created position of undersecretary for trade and foreign agriculture affairs. The nominees only received questions from six of the 21 committee members during which they addressed key topics such as crop insurance, trade barriers, rural broadband expansion and climate change. The committee is expected to vote on their nominations sometime next week once they resume from the three-day Rosh Hashana recess. The House is also in recess this week only having pro forma sessions on Monday and Thursday; however, GOP leaders are planning to roll out their tax reform plan next week once they resume Monday, September 25.