Transcripts For CSPAN2 Agriculture Secretary Perdue On Agriculture Policy 20171215

Press club earlier this week about next years farm bill, food exports, free trade agreements and his relationship with President Trump. This is an hour. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon, and welcome to the National Press club today for todays speakers lunch. I was president of the club in 2010 but cover food and agriculture issues for Bloomberg News which may explain why ive been exhumed for todays luncheon. We are pleased to have secretary of agriculture sonny per i due. We welcome him for the first time to the National Press club. First of all, before we begin his remarks, i would like you all to please put your phones on silent. Now, back in the day we used to tell you to turn them off, but we want them on sigh leapt because you would silent because we would like you to live tweet, the hashtag is pound npc live. Thats also true for all you folks out there in the twitter verses, we can follow that online. Wed also like to take a moment while you are silencing your phones and turning off distracting devices to introduce our head table. Hold your applause until after the full table is introduced. We have starting to your right, mark heller. Paul marion, senior White House Correspondent at mlex white house watch. Tamar hellerman, washington correspondent at the atlanta journalconstitution. The Deputy Communications director for secretary perdue. Phillip brasher, Senior Editor at agripulse, steven [inaudible] deputy secretary of agriculture, the number two for sonny perdue. We have betsy fisher martin, executive in residence at American University and cochair of the npc Headliners Team which put together this event. Skipping over our speaker for a moment, we have abby livingston, Washington Bureau chief at the texas tribune. The founder of the npc headliners member who organized todays luncheon. Next we have tim more talking, hes Communications Director for the u. S. Department of agriculture. Ellen ferguson covers agriculture and trade, and finally may thornton, the executive director at communications at the American Farm bureau federation. Thank you for being here today. [applause] wed also like to acknowledge additional members of the Headliners Team who were responsible for organizing todays event, lisa, jamie, heather, lori and joe as well as press chub staff, especially Lindsay Underwood and bill mccarran. For our cspan and public radio audiences, please be aware that in the audience today are members of the general public, so any applause or reaction you hear is not from the working press or even the unemployed press as is occasionally the case in todays media environment. [laughter] getting to our speaker, sonny perdue, who joins us today. Secretary perdue, who can be found on twitter secretarysonny, has a lifetime involvement with agriculture. His family operated a crop and dairy farm in georgia, thats the state that would later elect him its first republican governor since the reconstruction era. In between that, he served in the u. S. Air force rising to the rank of captain, received a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the university of georgia. He also served 11 years in the Georgia State senate before becoming governor. He has run Small Businesses, and it was that background he brought to a nationwide listening tour he recently completed. Today he will discuss that tour as well as his priorities on trade, what he would like to see in the next farm bill and how he and the department of agriculture are trying to inspire the next generation of farm and agricultural leaders. Please join me in welcoming to the National Press Club Secretary of agriculture sonny perdue. [applause] well, thank you very much. Since ive never run for president , this is my first time at press club. But its good to be with you all today. And youve shown your hospitality in many ways. Many of you have talked about welcoming me, and im happy to be here, but i thought the best example was this cookie here [laughter] the georgia bulldogs. We were hoping they would be in the National Championship as a former bulldog there. But good afternoon. Im going to speak from some prepared remarks today. I told my Communications Guy that i was going to say this, and he asked me not to. Im going to do it anyway. [laughter] i usually speak extemporaneously, but since you people write things down, im going to, you know, read from prepared remarks. Every american, every single district of our country is directly and tangibly affected by the work of our department of the United States department of agriculture. Why do i say that . The last time i checked in order to enjoy a great meal, in order to live, in order to we eat in this country and those that can come and be with us as well. I have to attend the g7 ministerial in italy today or a few weeks ago and you know, theres an International Discussion about gm owes and i made the comment that millions of your citizens come to our country and i dont think they bring their lunch and they come back all the healthier as an example of that. Nonetheless, that was not necessarily placid for the eu people but we know that even as people who send their tanks to school with a lunch, school lunch respective to usda policy as well, shopping in the supermarket, respected by usda and well take it a step further. The last time i checked, we had to live, we eat and we have to breathe and then comes the us forest service. Those forests that capture a lot of carbon and make sure our air is clean and sober us forest service, part of usda affects us as well. I think hyperbole may be a bipartisan cornerstone of this town sometimes but comes to personal daily touch, the usda has on the lives of everyone beyond its borders i want to submit to you that usda matters and thats why im fascinated with the job. Im honored to be serving as the 31st secretary and we look forward to telling a little bit about what we are trying to do in that apartment today. So given all that important that im trying to tell you, you may feel like i should come with flashy, glitzy policy proposal today but i resolved in my heart a long time ago before this job that what people want from their government is not so much talk or revolving door case of showcased agendas but really, they want to see government that works for them and ive tried to do that when i was governor. I think in georgia there was a governor who once ran that ran on the slogan hes a workhorse and not a show horse. I didnt use that but i guess i probably fit that description as well. I think people want government that works. They dont want government that talks out of both sides of their mouth or talks when theyre campaigning and dont do those things that it says. What i pledged to the men and women of United States is that i would make usda work for them by turning it into an aspiration. The most efficient, the most, best managed department in the federal government and thats what i want to talk to you about today. How do we plan to do that . Thats a great aspiration. I spoke to one group and gave them that aspiration and i tried to use the modern metaphor. I said we want to be the amazon of the federal government. He said, thats pretty strong. I said, yes it is. Were going to go big or go home. You want to be the Postal Service . We want that kind of delivery of tools and solutions for people out there today. So i think everything we do starts with the people we serve and people ask me all the time, asked up here, how do i like being in washington as the secretary of agriculture . My answer always is, i love the job. Some of you got that. They wont let me tell it in georgia what if they did i love it even more. Our office is here in dc and the mayor and i get along fine but the fact is our people, our customers, those constituencies of the usda are not in dc and they are all over the country and thats why since taking office weve been traveling to, i traveled to over 30 states. Six countries, promoting Us Agriculture and we had to rvs back to our roots to her. One through wisconsin, minnesota, iowa, indiana. Other countries in the northeast where we traveled 2200 miles and we got these two more planned for 2018, why do we do that . Because i believe that people are interested in leaders who will listen and america and the public out there and certainly our constituents are crying for people who will hear them and hear their voice. Let me give you some examples of my experiences from the road on these tours of being out in so many listening sessions and sitting down with people whose livelihood and the lives depend on the usda. 150 people out on a cold snowy monday morning in rural upstate new york in a dairy barn to hear my vision for the usda. 250 people busting out of the seams of an old machine shed in rural minnesota on a late friday afternoon. 150 people on a sunday afternoon session in the Central Valley of california. 800 folks showed up into essentially a gymnasium floor in rural montana. 200 people filled the front lawn of a farm euro press in dignity and in rural massachusetts on a gloomy thursday afternoon. 500 people filled the rodeo floor in kansas city with virtually no notice. Hundred people piled under a tent on a cornfield almost an hour outside springfield illinois and on friday, 120 college kids interested in a future in agriculture came to visit and have a roundtable at 4 am at the university in tallahassee florida and it goes on and on. Thats an example of the kind of hunger we see out there and how we and the United States government, particularly the United States department of agriculture relate to people on the farms and fields in communities of america so i dont say those things just to tell you, to indicate how busy ive been. I say those things to let you know that people wantto hear, they want to see people out there working. They are merely emblematic of how hungry the American People are for people in this town to listen, because they want us to quit talking to them and to listen and thats what ive enjoyed doing. To understand their issues and work toward Common Solutions and i think its fair to say that demand was pent up, i guess would be the bestdescription. In eight months , folks have found an honest listener and an honest broker in the secretary of agriculture, one who wants to hear from them, to listen to their issues, listen to their problems and hopefully work to solve some of them. I think this gives me a unique perspective of two different worlds. One is the world of washington and of politics. You know it well. Its here, all i had and 12. The other world is the world of real people outside of this area that dont know about what goes on here and honestly i dont want to hurt your feelings but i dont really care too much. When i travel across america, i dont get questions about the things that everyone in washington seems to be talking about. I dont get asked about the latest scandal, i dont get asked about the president s twitter account and the latest tweets. I dont want to burst your bubble but those are the things that seem to be important to the people of this town which are never mentioned when i listen to people outside. Those are not the thing that are on the minds of the American People generally. 100 people, 150 people got out on a freezing day, cold snowy morning in rural upstate new york to talk to me about agriculture or 60,000 young people join me in indianapolis for the fsa convention. You know they are serious about what they do and what their aspirations are for their lives and how they can participate in the american dream. What are those folds saying . Ive been out there doing listening, what are they saying . You may know one of their top issues as trade. Many of them are anxious about trade, our trade policy but because of this. Exports are responsible for 20 percent of the us farm income, almost over . 20 of every farm income dollar arrives from foreign sold products. It also drives rural Economic Activity and supports more than 1 million american jobs both on and off the farm so the 2014 farm bill called for a new position of undersecretary of trade and Foreign Agricultural services and that position was not created until we got here in may. I bought hearing from members of congress upon my confirmation and hearing from the people in the field that i believe that trade was important. I know from our experience in agribusiness, trade is important so we created that position and invited the president , the nominee ted mckinney from alabama to fill that position and hes hit the ground running. We met this morning to hear about his latest trip to colombia and panama and brazil and i think in a few weeks hes already logged 30,000 Miles Airport wise so hes on the road, hitting the ground running or flying i guess. But exports important, last year us exports totaled a little over hundred 40 billion in fy 17. Thats up 10. 9 billion from the Previous Year and it was the third highest level on record even in spite of lower commodity prices. When you look at in dollar terms, its fungible because you got different price points to deal with. We are at the lowest point in commodity prices. One of our lowest points but exports are the third highest on record. Most recent trade forecasts project over 140 billion in fy 18 which is on track with fy 17 and would be the fourth best year on record. The overall agricultural surplus is expected to grow eight percent from 21. 3 billion to more than 23 billion in 2018. Our president as you know is concerned about our trade deficit and im prone to remind him every time im in hispresence that agriculture contributes to a trade surplus. And he needs to recognize that. We also have some great individual victories and trade and many of you have reported about. We succeeded in getting usb back into china for the first time in 13 years. We opened china to american rice for the First Time Ever and are still working out some of those smaller details. Weve got us port back into argentina for the First Time Since 1992 and the European Union bless their hearts have dropped their requirements to us citrus groves be surveyed individually for citrus canker which eases the entry of us citrus into the eu market and saves growers thousands of dollars in production costs. Weve also announced that japan expanded Market Access for us shipping potatoes, resuming imports from idaho for the first time in 11 years. Vietnam is also on the analysis, they notified the us that it will resume imports of us distillers dried grains or djd and announce that south korea has lifted its ban on imports of us poultry and poultry products including fresh eggs. All those are good news but we want more. Im a grown kind of guy, many people think we ought to restrain productive agriculture, im not one of those. I think if American Farmers produce it, the usda want to be helping to sell it and thats what undersecretary mckinney is all about. I suspect that more than a few of you will ask me about nafta if i didnt address it now. I plan to ask santa for a perfect trade deal put on the deal for all American Farmers. Then i remembered the north pole might be too close to canada for things to turn out well for us but all joking aside, he say that you remain optimistic aboutthe future of our trilateral trading relationship. Id like to say and this is not original to me but you look at mexico, United States and canada. I think really that we live in the best neighborhood on the planet and to have a deal that would take advantage of those relationships logistically in the common north america makes all the sense in the world. We know agriculture in all three countries have benefited from nafta and we believe with some remodel lies in and readjusting, some tweaking, it can continue on so that is very important for our department and we know that President Trump is a top negotiator. We know he puts America First. At the end of the day i believe that we will wind up with a renewed nafta that better for america and better for our american producers. The departments official motto i think because of the economy of the us and economy of agriculture, i think this is the official motto of the usda is agriculture is the foundation of manufacture and commerce. Thats a pretty powerful statement, when you think about it about the relationship between the agriculture economy and overall economy. We toured a lot of great facilities and there was one in illinois, that manufactured sprayers. The progress in technology and agriculture blows you away. They were designing a sprayer with optical sensors that detected the noxious weeds and we just spray the chemical on the noxious weeds. Those are the kind of things happening in america that many people dont understand but the bottom line is a healthy and economy is imperative for the rest of our economy to thrive as well. And me, our producers will do their part in that progression. We need a fair, functioning nafta agreement to continue that. So as far as trade goes, we are making terrific progress. I feel comfortable that we will reach a deal. We put things on the table as weshould, but i think we will reach a deal that works for everyone. Secondly, we got a farm bill coming up soon, 2018. And i believe the chairman feel like they are on the track, general roberts, chairman conway have done a lot of work in that area. So is senator grassley who thinks we are behind but senator grassley has a lot of opinions. Anyway, i think we are on track for a good farm bill. The good news is i dont think theres going to be a revolutionary deal randy, i think the 14 farm bill will be more evolutionary. There are a couple places that didnt make it quite as good as many people had hoped but the dairy industry and cotton industry and the 14 farm bills, i think we will see things to address that but i believe that it will work. We are going to provide the background, the research, the resources, the feedback that we hear from the heartland, all these listening sessions so that our members of congress are responsible for the farm bill can make good on a fax base, datadriven farm bill. Based on what weve heard in our travels, we are working on what we think is the right approach from the usda in the relationship to congress, providing them what we believe are the basic bedrock principles that make a good farm bill and i think some of these principles are just the direct result of what i heard from the people of agriculture during my travels and they are the ones that live these policies day by day, they are the ones that have to execute the policies we create and frankly i believe they have some of the best ideas. What works from previous farm bills and what doesnt work as well. Will be talking about a few of those principles across all of our Mission Areas at usda and all the responsibilities so i dont think the farm bill will have a radical departure in changes. Were going to make some improvements in some of those areas but its ultimately up to congress to decide what they want us to implement and we stand ready to provide whatever counsel congress may believe and may require as their opinion of these things. Your may remember on the day i was sworn in, trump signed an executive order for agriculture and rural prosperity. One of the primary purposes of any farm bill is for Rural America which remains the backbone and the breadbasket of this country and when the president signed that executive order creating Interagency Task force on agriculture and rural prosperity, he asked us to share that and we had a great relationship with 22 other federal agencies about how we can make a difference in Rural America. Its frankly true when you look at the numbers that much of america has recovered or certainly is the in the beginning stages of recovery from the Great Recession but unfortunately that doesnt seem to be true in Rural America. Progress is lagging behind their butt while the population is growing in urban areas and urban areas, population across Rural America is stagnant or even diminishing and we got to do a better job. I think its the responsibility of the usda to do a better job providing hope and Economic Opportunity for those in Rural America and for those involved in agriculture. On our rv tours and other visits, we listened, held town Hall Meetings together and got information, working with my counterparts from other cabinet departments, we came up with a report after the hundred 80 day timeline to submit to the white house and its going to be released soon. They are reviewing that now. Weve got specific executable action items that we think will be helpful, making specific recommendations on how we think we can help Rural America succeed and drive and that includes things like access to capital, infrastructure improvements, so i dont want to preempt that. Stay tuned for that report. As many of you knowearly on in my , undersecretary, announced a broad reorganization of usda and part of that was the approach in the way we deal with an interface with Rural Development. We elevated our Rural Development to senior persons to be an office that reports directly to the secretary. I wanted that person to have what we call walkin privileges to come in and discuss ideas offthecuff, not have to make an appointment or schedule but to come in and say weve got this idea, wed like to do this, what do you think and get kind of a go, [indiscernable] pursuit of those ideas with visions right away. I consider it to be an elevation of Rural Development and i think it turned out that way. And hayes men whos been on the Senate Committee is doing a great job and we look forward to having great things from our Rural Development staff across the country. Next is really what we heard also, we heard trade, labor and regulation a lot. So when you talk to farmers, its inevitable they will eventually complain about regulation. And as you know one of the first actions of the president that he took through our director of epa was to rescind the onerous waters in the us rule, have been reconsidered but most farmers and farm groups felt like this was an extremely onerous type of rule that would damage the way they farmed in a fairly significant way so an executive order, President Trump directed each agency to review and to consider reversing, reducing those kind of regulations and for every regulation, regulatory action, we are under the obligation to publish some deregulatory actions so these actions have real impact. Theyre notjust bureaucratic shell games. So the total regulatory cost must be offset by savings from the regulatory action and we are reporting the cost savings of the regulation to the president. For this fall agenda weve submitted 28 final deregulatory actions. These actions we believe by our calculations will generate measurable cost offsets totaling 56. 15 million in annualized savings. Oneof those regulations has to do with our relationship with the states. This president , this administration understands we all serve the same people. Theyre inviting county commissioners, governors to have an integrated relationship across the levels of government that ive never seen before. Im envious, frankly as a former governor to have had that kind of relationship with the federal government and state i believe, we understand are closer to the people they serve and not all states are the same so our policies need to recognize that reality, maximize the flexibilities of states when altogether possible. One of my first actions of secretary was to provide flexibility to the state and local School Systems regarding School Lunches. This kind of got generated by a childhood friend of mine who told me after i was nominated, he said i told my granddaughter what the responsibilities of the secretary of agriculture work and i told her they included School Lunches and she said great granddaddy, do you think mister soni can make School Lunches great again. Thats kind of the way how those things happen. But when i started talking to the school lunch professional, we found out how the professional nutritionists and dietitians were spending more time in front of a spreadsheet than they were in the ability to do their job and we gave them flexibility. Were also going to ask state as you are reading recently, more flexibility in the snap programs. We pulled the states the goal of the snap program is to provide support for families and if they are strengthened and enabled for selfsufficiency. We want to have the states to have its ability to provide the best Customer Service and delivery to snap nutrition, maintain the integrity of the system by reducing fraud ultimately help families to grow stronger and more selfreliant. One organization we dont think of as regulatory but if you think about it, you know this and one of the most important regulatory agencies is the irs. And our farmers will benefit from whats happening on capitol hill now. The tax bill. The tax code on farmers and Small Businesses is greater than the numbers on the spreadsheet. By thetime they have to plan , while we think of for me, you know, sort of spiritually as a lifestyle, its also a business. If you are not profitable, you dont get very long and our farmers are going to benefit from the provisions of the tax bill and also benefit from the reduction of innovative thinking, positive vision thats rob by having to plan for taxes and all those things. Cannot be totally quantified in those areas they are real. Tax reform i believe will be a great Christmas Present for the American People. And i think i want to applaud President Trump. I think he has probably done what some people think could be done. He showed great leadership but im impressed with the regular order that this has been done with through the house, passing a bill in the Senate Passing a bill and now you have a conference committee. Thats the way things used to be done. You dont see that happen any longer but this is the way its happening and the president been very involved individually with members of the house and senate and we are hopeful that congress can come to terms with a final bill so the president can consider it very soon. When i told you that i expect , my aspiration for the usda to be the most effective, most efficient, most customer focused department in the federal government, i want to tell you , it starts with good people. You heard steve introduced. Im proud to have steve on board. Implementing a new operating model for the usda. Its a cultural change. We are going up and down the ladder overall and hes working hard to do that. When i interviewed steve, he had been the ceo of the American Soybean Association for 20 years and i said thats admirable to save an organization like that for 20 years. How big is your board . He said 48. If you had 48 farmers that rotate on a 2 to 3 year basis and you managed to hurt them for 20 years, you can do this job and hes doing it. So what he and i are determined to be factbased, data driven, sound science decisionmakerswith a customer focus. Some of you heard about, i was telling some of you about the geewhiz technology there. We got farmers out there with this latest Satellite Technology on their combines and equipment and theyve yet to fill out a paper form and hand delivery, fax it to the usda office. We dont have that technology there. Weve got farmers heading in combines in their autonomous driven tractors and faxing and emailing and doing apps on Everything Else but if they want to see us, theyve got to come to town and get out of that and stop working thats not customer focused or customer friendly. We have a Human Resources to make improvements possible. Ive been so pleasantly surprised with our career employees at usda. They are dedicated and we were delighted just a week ago to hear that our employees are among the top 10 places to work in the federal government, moving up two notches to come up at seventh place in the rankings, just think. But there are customer focused, they mean business for our customers and it can make it a better place to work as we give them the tools they can work better with a focus on the customer. So our twitter handle was mentioned. We have a lively twitter feed at secretary sonny, that shows all the places we can go and people love to see that. If you look at it, you will see some of my most fond people are fsa and 4h students. They are bright, passionate and i enjoy being around them. It gives me inspiration for the future of america and agriculture particularly. So we have a lot of fun with them at the convention. I said, i know most teachers say dont do this but get out your phone, tweet and tell me which state you are. We had 300 to talking about where they were and they were competing and it was fun to see that. Its to them not to not only be production this but Agricultural Producers but to be communicators. No longer can we set behind offenses and farms and do a great job producing. We got to communicate the story, the greatest story of american agriculture. Thats what we were doing in florida and then in tallahassee last week, talking about those young people there with the opportunities to communicate what agriculture is all about. They have wonderful research and water and plant science and so many other things that are happening that many people dont know about. They also had great innovative ideas about how to get the message across and engage and encourage more agriculture. They actually suggested, at the institution incorporate agriculture in their majors such as business and engineering and stem classes because you get all those things and agriculture. So we are made the next generation of partners, we signed an ou with fsa and were committed to Leadership Development because i tell them as young people their future is not in the future, its now. Will begin using and enjoying it. You can tell that i love this job, being secretary of agriculture is not just a job, its a passion for me. Thats why mary and i chose to leave three grandchildren to come for a onceinalifetime opportunity to make a difference. Helping rural people to prosper, feeding everyone, for securing our nations forests, its the mission as usda is large and bold so in some ways i told you earlier, we touch the lives of americans and countless others across the world on a daily basis. Im humbled deserve, President Trumps administration and the American People and with that i want to wish you all a merry christmas. [applause] thank you for speaking with us today mister secretary. We now answer the question and answer period of this program, if you can stay at the microphone, the press club now have to mikes so we have to go back and forth like this all the time so congratulations on that innovation. Also we still dont have a question cards that members of the audience can pass out. Go to hashtag and pc live if you have questions for the secretary at this event. The first question, you alluded of it to the people outside of washington policy matter. Usda may matter in many ways in food stamps, the supplemental nutrition system. You talk a little bit about state flexibility within and we have heard in recent days that the president is looking to the us social Services Program with nafta that the institute is starting in january. Tell us about some of the efforts you have on flexibility and what could you see as changes to the snap program and usda under congress. I think thats speculative to think about. Obviously the president and his team are looking at welfare reforms generally. We know that the snap program is included in the farm bill and thats what we will see until Something Else comes about what the overall goal if yougo back , the most important thing is to go back and read the initial statutory language dealing with food stamps or supplemental nutrition. This is the ability for ablebodied working adults to rely on food stamps continually, i think its really considered a route to selfsufficiency whether it be in a farm bill or comprehensive Welfare Program to follow. The nutrition advocates and farm groups have come together to pass this bill. Its by far the single largest ust program. A significant disruption to the program could be a disruption to the farm bill. I think youre absolutely right. I think the coalition has passed the farm bill for years and will be maintained and sustained. The principal i told you of changes not necessarily a person issue. Some people may object but by and large its a Bipartisan Group of people that believe that ablebodied adults without the pendant independence should not rely on supplemental nutrition efforts from the american public. I think that will be a provision that will not be totally disruptive to the principles of the combination of the farm bill provisions as well as supplemental nutrition. Final questions on nutrition programs for now. There have been reports that the usda is considering allowing limits on the food program, limiting soda and snapper but jim purchases. Can you confirm those discussions . What kind of changes could we see administered . I can confirm those requests. We have a couple of waivers submitted regarding limiting purchase of those types and its really kind of a popular thing and some camps. My concern obviously, when the u. S. Da administers that, where do you draw the line with different states. If one state says you shouldnt have meet their nation be able to purchase meat protein or animal protein, is not appropriate if you have things that are sugary drinks and snacks and salty snacks and those kind of things that we deem unhealthy, thats one thing, but what about you should not that have genetically engineered products. What about Animal Welfare issue. You shouldnt have any eggs that arent cage free. No meat or pork thats not produced in this ultimate humane provision. Where do you draw the line . Thats a slippery slope that we will have to really consider very carefully. Turning to other issues and monitoring the discussion, heres another. Farmers for nafta which has arisen in recent days, its a communication form for farmers and farm groups who seem worried about the president s threats to withdraw from the accord. Should they be worried about that . In what role are you playing in white house discussions on the matter . Where you join farmers for nafta . Imagine this in my remarks. I do appreciate the fact that President Trump is a tough negotiator. I like a leader who believes in our nation, believes in people and productivity and believes that we have been unfairly taken on some of the agreements we have made in enforcement area. Im confident that President Trump on sign an agreement between canada and mexico that benefits the American People and the american producers and while there may be some anxiety along the way, i think his negotiating style is right in line with what we can expect to be something that will benefit American Farmers and producers. All in all, you seem to be getting along with president okay. Especially in comparison with some colleagues that the president has tangled with publicly, jeff sessions, can you communicate whether you disagree or have different perspectives . He loves me. The president is interesting. He sees the public persona. Progress force full as he is, he is a great leader. He always leaves the back door open for comments that he takes into consideration and is willing to change his mind on that. I dont do this very often, but we were invited to have lunch, he was proud that he drafted the nafta agreement and he came in and showed him some of the facts that nafta had done and how it had benefited and he relented and changed his mind. I think thats the essence of a good leader. I like to have a vision and a goal of where im going. I always have to listen and i found that to be true the president. I think he wants him to give me my best counsel and best advice. He wants me to be right about it. He has high expectations. Im challenged by those high expectations. Understanding the usda does not directly impact that standard but of course is very important farmers, senator ted cruz had put a hold on your nominees. They led to another free bill northey and that led to another discussion of a renewable. [inaudible] what would your position be considering he spoke to people like ted cruz who believed there should be reduction. The president and his campaign made a commitment to the people in the renewable fuel standard that i think the phrase was dont mess with rfs and hes lived up to that. He reiterated that and again, to senator grassley, senator ernst, senator fisher about his commitment and he did well last week with senator cruz and another group of eight or nine senators there that were particularly concerned about the rent prices. The president understands we got to do something about rim prices. The good news is theres a winwin in here. Its very complex but there is a winwin. Ethanol producers, the corn people, they are not in it for the rim prices, theyre in it for the volume, the renewable volume over ethanol production per they want to be very carefully guiding that but we got a figure out, working this week with the people, senator cruz and his people and others to help resolve the rim prices that some believed to be very speculative and cornering on the market there that have damage the refiners, the president wants the refiners to flourish and more refinery based on our new petroleum supplies and natural resources, but he also knows he is committed, he articulated to those nine senators that he is committed to the program, and i think the numbers that the administrator put out last week are the appropriate ones, we hope to be part of the solution of the concern for the refiners over rim prices as well. The biggest item on the list for agriculture is almost certainly the upcoming farm bill. How closely have you been in consultation with the agricultural committees and what possibly could it be that you are providing some of your own legislative language . We are actually consultants to the egg committees as they desire. We will be as handsoff or as handson as they choose for us to be. I think they understand, based on what you heard the litany of visits that you heard that we have information out here of what farmers believe have worked and not worked. We are willing to share that and we will be releasing what we think is the appropriate stance between the usda and congress. I dont think its responsibility of the usda to write a farm bill or to be handsoff. We will be giving some broad principles we think should be included in the farm bill and then will go further. We will do a deep dive based on the facts and the data that we have to support our view over therthose principles. Ill give you a little metaphor i think a farm bill ought to contain and thats a good safety net for producers. I heard this, this is not original to me, but if you think of what the safety safety net, think about going to a surface and looking at the trapeze act. Think about if the net is put right under the wire, theres not much thrill their benefits put on a concrete floor you can get really hurt so the balance is to have it at the right area where there is risk in farming. Farmers dont mind risk, they just dont want to lose the farm, literally, if the crop or weather, hurricanes, floods destroy all of their equity. We have a few moments for questions. Feel free to bring in and submit questions. Please write legibly. They greatly increases your chances of having your questions asked. Dealing specifically with crop insurance, what is the usda going to do with approximately 1. 4 billion it seems to be saving from prevented planting. What happens as an aftermath of that policy . I guess you are referring maybe to the up charge for the a purchase of the 10 on preventive planning, but if you can help me find that 1. 4 billion, i would like to know where it is. Thats not articulation. Whoever wrote the question, if i can talk to afterwards to tell me where the 1. 4 billion is and ill tell you what we will do with it. Another big question dealing with the farm bill, dealing with agricultural development, the u. S. , for decades has been a leader through Extension Programs worldwide. Work how does that fit with the America First and Competitive Landscape . I think it fits with his vision. I think weve got some persuasion to understand what the opportunities are for investment in our land grant and developing former perspective but i told the president facetoface, if American Manufacturing had the same level of Asic Research and agricultural applied research in agriculture and a Delivery System like the Extension Service, i dont think we would really be talking about the devisdemise of american factory. Im a big proponent, a user of Extension Service in the landgrant service and i believe theres a Great Partnership for discovery and what were seeing with american agriculture is exhibit a. Discussing an issue that came up in your discussion in washington one that is ravaging Rural America is the opioid crisis. The unified effort, National Farmers union released the results which showed some startling numbers. There are three times as likely to report an addiction as a general population. What role do they play in this challenge in the Rural Communities that they live in. Sadly these are true numbers and this is one of the reasons ive charged dan with the Rural Development to try to develop a program. We dont want to throw money necessarily but whether it be rural Treatment Centers helping in role communities, this is an addiction that is just as rampant in rural areas as it is in suburban areas. I know secretary bill sack had told me earlier that this was something they had worked on and we hope to be part of the solution. Any drug addiction is no silver bullet. It takes a lot of things but again the improving of the Rural Economy will help in the hope and diminish much of the despair it leads to certainly Prescription Drug addiction and opioid addiction. Next month the Trump Administration will be one month old. You were the last cabinet secretary to be sworn in and the pace of hiring at the u. S. Da is not necessarily been at the pace you would like to see. We have several positions still open. One of them is the undersecretary position for research and education which had been the sam clovis foundation. He later with duke drew. Will this post have a deep scientific background . Good progress, yes. [laughter] after the doctors withdraw we are looking across the United States for the best person with a scientific background that blows away the community that cannot no questions about that. It can be a very comfortable environment. Its not very many people that want to leave a good tenured home in academia to come to a political position. We think there are people out there who we think would make great chief scientist for the department of agriculture. How comfortable are you feeling at usda . Whats your big goal for the next year . Im feeling good. Our goal this year, the year after is to be the most effective and efficient, the most customer focused and the best managed federal agency that youve ever seen. Not by what mike medications people say that we will be judged by you. Thank you for speaking with us. Were not done with you yet. So please do not be seated. We have stilted tradition, the longstanding tradition, we give this to all of our speakers and we hope that this be the first of several that you can receive. Some get tired of this. This is the esteemed prize National Press club mug. Thank you. Were still not done with you because we have some final announcements we have the other tradition which is our final question. Before we conclude our program with the final question, we want to know on upcoming headlines that we dont want you to miss. Walter isaacson, former editor of time and chairman of cnn. Never heard of it. Reasons to go along with the president. Walter isaacson, former cnn chairman will be developing his new book Leonardo Da Vinci. Have you heard of him. Yes, i have heard of him. Even though i went to university of georgia, ive heard of him. You said it here first. On december 18, for more details, please go to the National Press club website. One of the things we try to do here, they recently elected a new president as well as all of the other folks who are having this great trust in this very challenging time for journalism. One of the things we like to do is stay timely and stay with current events. You are former governor of georgia and understanding all states are not the same, i learned this many times over the years. In alabama, theres a pretty important election but as a state official in state government, im wondering what your thoughts are for local and state races when they look at nationalized results. When they go into the National Voting is, how much will the attention matter and what could result could mean to the nation. Thats a great question. Probably more than we think. Probably the washington bubble versus the outside. Im not sure a lot of people in alabama are thinking about the national consequences. As a former governor, having run twice, im a big believer in the ballot box and i think alabama will vote for what they believe is in their best interest and to heck with what people outside alabama think. And i was sharing with my lunch partners here that we see this in president ial off years, president obama while very popular in his two runs, we didnt see any transfer in the off years, in fact, just the opposite in that regard. I dont think theres a lot of nationalization, even though the press, you love to write about that, i dont think when the voter goes in the voter booth they think about that nationalization or what it means to President Trumper what it means to President Trump. I think the thing about their representatives for congress. Once again, please offer a round of applause to sunny purdue. Thank you so much for being here at the National Press club lunch. I was Club President in 2010. Coming back this special event of agriculture, thinking the members of our headlining team responsible for this event and also once again, dont forget the former editor of time and former cnn chairman discussing Leonardo Da Vinci on december 18. More details at davida vw. Press. Org. This is going to be one of the last luncheons of the year. Please check on the National Press club events. On behalf of the National Press club, todays meeting of the National Press club is adjourned. [inaudible conversation] [inaudible conversation] congress has two major issues on its agenda for next week. Republicans hope to pass a bill reconciling the house and senate two different tax bills. They want to pass the tax legislation and have it on President Trumps desk before christmas. Also, government funding expires one week from today. Meaning the government would shut down in a week without action from congress. This weekend on American History tv on cspan three, saturday at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on the civil war, generals we love to hate with author craig on confederate general joseph johnston. His critics argue that his timidity with the enemy and his combativeness with the federal government enrichment to make him a controlling factor in confederate defeat. To these critics, johnston was the real mcclellan of the west. [laughter] a man who lacked the moral will to commit troops to battle unless he could be absolutely certain of victory, and since those circumstances never obtained, he seldom, if ever sought battle at all. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern on real america, the white house naval photographic units monthly reports on lyndon johnson. Two days after his return from new york the president s oldest daughter became the bride of captain charles robb of the United States marine corps. Historically it was the First White House wedding in 53 years. At 6 00 p. M. On american artifacts, the 200 year history of the Willard Hotel in washington d. C. Whose guests include abraham lincoln, world war ii shoulders, and the first japanese delegation to United States in 1860. Abraham lincoln conducted quite a bit of business while he was here. He stayed for ten days and the First White House levy was held not at the white house, but at the white hotel. When he introduced himself and his wife who was quite a bit shorter than him, he said i wanted to introduce you to the long and short of the new presidency. American history tv, all weekend every weekend, only on cspan three. A study was released on the potential impact of brexit for the united kingdom, the European Union and the u. S. Today, panelists discuss the study at the Woodrow Wilson international center. The uk scheduled to leave in march 2019. [inaudible conversation]