Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Agriculture Committee completed its two-day examination of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) organization and program administration. Over the past two days, members of the committee heard from 25 undersecretaries, administrators, and other department officials across USDA’s seven mission areas, on a variety of topics, which included an accounting for each area’s purpose and goals, programs administered, and annual budget.
Today’s panel of witnesses included USDA officials for the Natural Resources and Environment (NRE), Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (FFAS), Research, Education and Economics (REE), and Marketing and Regulatory Programs (MRP) mission areas. They followed yesterday’s panels that included USDA officials for the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNCS), Food Safety (FS), and Rural Development (RD) mission areas.
“It is our responsibility as committee members to work in tandem with USDA, advocating on behalf of American consumers and producers. It is also our responsibility to provide rigorous oversight of USDA activities. On both accounts, I have enjoyed working with Secretary Vilsack and his team, and I thank them for their participation this week. Hearing from every mission area at USDA over a two-day period provides a unique opportunity to see how all of the various parts of USDA work together. I hope to continue these conversations as we move forward,” said Chairman Conaway.
