Vilsack Nomination Pt 3
I’m Bob Larson. After the nomination by President-elect Biden of Tom Vilsack to return to his former position as Secretary of Agriculture, it means that Sonny Perdue’s days are numbered.U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse says Perdue certainly faced many challenges during his four years as Ag Secretary, but he grades out well …
NEWHOUSE … “Overall, yes, I would give Perdue’s tenure high marks. There were some things we disagreed on and we had to challenge Secretary Perdue, but he listened, he was open to hearing what we had to say and, in fact, on some things he actually changed his positions and we were able to get him to go along with some of the things that we thought were better for our state.”
Another positive Perdue brought to the office was his willingness to travel and meet his constituency, including here in our state …
NEWHOUSE … “He did come out to the state of Washington. In fact, we had him out to the Tri-Cities to visit with a large group of producers. So, I think we’ve made a lot of progress at USDA and other agencies too. There has been a very good working relationship with Congress and the Administration and the agencies that we deal with.”
So, overall, Newhouse gives Perdue high marks for the accomplishments of the USDA over the past four years that they’ve been able to see.