Distinguished roster of speakers. Before we begin his remarks, i would like you all to please put your phones on silent. Back in the day, we used to tell them tell you to turn them off. We would like you to put them on silent, because we would like you to live tweet this event. We can follow that online. We would also like to take a moment while you are silencing your phones and turning off other potentially distracting devices to introduce our table. We would like you to hold your applause until after the full head table is introduced. Then you can corrupt and applause. Erupt inou can applause. We have mark heller, a reporter. Paul marion, senior white house correspondent. Ellerman. Ms. Rich. Philip. Stephen cianci. Have that the preacher martin. We have betsy. Speaker for aour moment, we have abby livingston. Hinton tamara hinton, the head member that organized todays luncheon. We have the two medications director for the u. S. Department of agriculture. , and finally mr. Durkin. Thank you for being here today. [applause] we would like to add knowledge Additional Team members. Lori, joe, heather, and press club staff. Radior cspan and public audiences, please be aware that any audience today are members of the general public, so any applause or reaction you hear is not from the working press or the unemployed press. Getting to our speaker, sonny perdue can beary found on twitter. He has a lifetime involvement with agriculture. His family operated a dairy farm in georgia. Himstate would later elect the first republican governor since the reconstruction era. In between that, he served in the u. S. Air force, received a dr. Of veterinary medicine , ran a private practice, and served 11 years in the Georgia State senate before get 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 torque as well as his priorities on trade, but he would like to see on the next you see in the next farm bill. Please join me in welcoming to the National Press Club Secretary of agriculture sonny perdue. [applause] well, thank you very much. This is my first time at the press club. It is good to be with you all today. You show your hospitality in many ways. Many of you have talked about welcoming me, and i am happy to be here, but i thought but i thought the best example of your hospitality was this cookie. Good afternoon. I am going to speak from some prepared remarks. They asked me not to say this, i am going to do it anyway. I usually speak extemporaneously , but since you people write things down, i am going to read from prepared remarks. They have been vetted. [laughter] we ought to be good today. I want to start with a provocative premise. With the press club, it might not be so provocative. Believe this is true, every single day, every single american, everything will desert to our country, is directly tangibly affected by the work of our department. , think the last time i checked country to live in this and those that come to be with us as well, i happened to attend ag ministerial. There is an International Discussion about gmos. Millions of your citizens come to our country and i dont think us anding our lunch with they come back healthier. Nonetheless, that was not persuasive for the eu people. We know that even if people who send their kids to school with lunch, school lunch, are affected by usda policies. Shopping and shopping in a supermarket, affected by usda. We will take it a step further. We have time i checked, to live, eat, breathe, and then comes the u. S. Forest service, those that capture a lot of carbon and make sure our air is , so the u. S. Forest service part of the usda affects us. Be ank hyperbole may bipartisan cornerstone of this town, but when it comes to be personal daily touch, usda touches on the lives of everyone beyond this border. These borders. The usda matters. That is why i am fascinated by the job an honor to be serving. We look forward to coming a little bit about what we are trying to do. You might, given all of that importance, you may feel like i should come with some flashy policy proposal today, but i resolved in my heart before this job that what people want i think from the government is not doorsh talk or revolving of showcase agendas, but they want to see a government that works for them. That i tried to do that when i was governor. Ran on theonce slogan that he is a workhorse not a show horse. I didnt use that, but i see to that description. I think people what government that works, not government that talks out of both sides of their mouth or when they are campaigning and dont do those things they say. What i pledge the men and whenever the men and women of the United States is to make the usda work for them. The most efficient, the most effective, the most customer focused, the best managed department in the federal government. That is what i want to talk to about today. How do we plan to do that . That is a great aspiration. I spoke to one group and gave them an aspiration, and i used a modern metaphor. I said we want to be the amazon of federal government. They said that is pretty strong. I said, yes it is. We are going to go big or go home. We want that kind of delivery. I think everything we do starts with the people we serve, and how i ask me all the time like being in washington as secretary of agriculture. The answer always is i love the job. [laughter] some of you got that. They wont tell me they will let me tell it from georgia, but nonetheless, our office is a ndc. Our office is in d. C. Our customers of the usda are not in d. C. They are a liver the country. They are all over the country. I have traveled to over 30 states, six countries emoting u. S. Agriculture. Six countries promoting u. S. Agriculture. In the northeast, we traveled 2200 miles and have at least two more planned for 2018. Why would we do that . I believe people are seriously interested in the leaders who will listen. Public and 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 the stores on these tors. Rs and sittingu down with people. Cold,ople got out on a snowy morning in upstate new york to hear my vision for the usda. In rural minnesota on a late friday afternoon. 150 on a sunday afternoon session and the Central Valley of california. 800 folks showed up in rural montana. 100 people filled the front lawn rural farm bureau in massachusetts on a thursday afternoon. 500 people filled eight tour in kansas city with virtually no notice. Hundred people piled in a cornfield in illinois. On friday, 120 college kids introduced interested in agriculture can to visit at the university in tallahassee. That is just an example of the kind of hunger we see out there and how we in the United States government and the department of agriculture relate to people in the communities of america. I dont say those things just to show you and indicate how busy i have been. I say those things to let you know that people want to hear, want to see people out there working. They are merely emblematic of how hungry American People are for people in this town to listen, because they want us to quit talking to them and to listen. That is what i have enjoyed doing. Understand their issues and work towards common solutions. Thatnk it is fair to say in eight months, folks believe they have found an honest oftener and the secretary agriculture, one who wants to hear from them, listen to their issues, listen to their problems , and hopefully work to solve some of them. Makenk this gives me a you perspective of serving two different worlds. One is the world of washington and politics. You know it well. The other world is of real people out there outside this area that dont know what about what goes on here. They dont really care too much. When i travel across america come i dont get questions about the things that everybody in washington seems to be talking about. I do get asked about the latest scandal. I dont asked about the latest tweets. Those are the things that seem to be important to people in this town, which are never mentioned when i go and listen to people outside. When 1250 people get out on a freezing day, cold snowy morning in rural upstate new york to talk to me about agriculture or 60,000 join me in indianapolis, you know that theyre pretty serious about what they do and what their aspirations are for their lives and how they can parts pailt in he american dream. Saying . Are they you may know that one of the top issues is trade. Many of them are anxious about trade. Ur trade policy. Exports are responsible for over 20 cents of every farm income dollar derives from foreign sold products. It also drives rural Economic Activity and supports more than jobs. Ion american i thought from hearing from members of congress and hearing from them out in the field that i believe that trade was important. I know from my experience that trade is important. So we created that position and invited the president nominated ted mckinny to fill that position. Hes hit the ground running. i ¿we met this morning to hear about the latest trips to colombia, panama and brazil and in just a few weeks he had 30,000 Miles Airport wise so hes on the road hitting the ground running or flying i guess guess. It is up 10. 9 billion from the Previous Year and the thirdhighestthirdhighest level on record even in spite of lower commodity prices. When you look at the exports it is ungible because you have different price points to deal with but they are the third highest on the record. The most recent is over 140 billion in fy et which is right on track so the surplus is expect to it to go 8 from 21. 3 billion to different price points to deal ore than 23 billion in 2018. Very concerned about the trade deficit i remind them every time agriculture contributes to the trade surplus and he needs deficit i remind them every time agriculture contributes to the trade surplus and he needs to recognize that. For the first time in 13 years, we pened china for the First Time Ever and were still working out ome of those details. We got u. S. Ports back the First Time Since 1992. They would be urveyed which uses the interest into the market for production costs and we also announce for the u. S. Shipping potatoes and from idaho for the first time in 11 years. Vietnam is also dividing the u. S. Of announce for the u. S. Shipping the imports and imports of u. S. Poultry and poultry products including fresh eggs. All of that is good news but i may that is good news but i may row it and sell it kind of uy. That is what the undersecretary is all about. I suspect more than a few of you will ask me about nafta if i ont address it now. I ntended to ask santa claus for a perfect final trade deal wrapped up nicely and put on the tree for all American Farmers but then i remembered t might be too close to canada for things turn out well for us comes all joking aside, let me say this, that i do remain optimistic about the trilateral relationship advisors like to say this is an original of me that if you look at mexico, the United States and canada, i think that we live in the best neighborhood on the planet. And to have a deal that would take advantage of those relationships logistically it makes all the scents in the world. Sense in the world. We know that theyve benefited from nafta and we believe with some adjusting it can continue on so that is important for our department and the note that President Trump is a tough negotiator and we will wind up with a renewed nafta. Our epartment official motto i think because the economy of the u. S. And agriculture. It is the foundation of commerce and that is a pretty powerful statement when you think about it. We too were a lot of great acilities, one in illinois but created manufactured sprayers. These are things many people dontthe things many peopledont understand the bottom line is it is imperative for the rest of the economy to thrive as well and trust me, thrive as well and trust 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 will reach a deal and put some tough hings on the table as we showed that we should reach a deal that works for everyone. Second, we have a farm bill coming up very soon in 2018. There are a lot of opinions. Anyway, i think we are on track for a good farm bill but the ood news about it is i dont think theres going to be a evolutionary deal. I think that the farm bill is going to be more evolutionary. Theres a couple places that didnt make it quite as good as many people had hoped such as the 14 farm bills we will see some things to address that. The members of congress responsible for the farm bill can make good on a actbased data driven farm bill based on the traveling we bill based on the traveling we are working on what we think is the right approach in their relationship to congress. Some f these principles are the esult of what i heard from people and agriculture during my travels and they are the ones that lived with the policies day by day to execute the policies that he created nd frankly they have some of the best ideas and what works from the previous bills and what doesnt work as well. We will be talking about a few of those across the Mission Areas in the usda and all of the responsibilities. I dont think that the 2018 bill will have a departure in changes. We are going to make some improvements n those areas and ultimately it is up to the congress to decide what they want us to implement and we stand ready to provide whatever counsel congress may believe you may require as our opinion on these hings. You may remember on the day i was sworn in, President Trump signed an executive order and that was for agriculture and prosperity. It remains a backbone and the breadin thebread basket of policy and when the president signed the executive order in the task force on agriculture and prosperity they asked us to cheer about and wechair that and we had a Good Relationship with 22 other agencies about how to make a difference in Rural America. Much of america has recovered were certainly is in the beginning stages of recovering the great recession. Progress is lagging behind. With 22 other agencies about weve got to do a better job in providing the hope and Economic Opportunity for those in Rural America and involved in agriculture. During the tour and our other visits, we listened and held town Hall Meetings together in information working with my ounterparts from other cabinet we came up with a report after the 188 timeline. We have some specific action items that we think will be helpful in making specific recommendations on how we think we can help Rural America succeed and thrive and that includes things like access to capital, Infrastructure Improvements so i dont want to preempt that. Stay tuned for the record. Report. As you know early on in my time is the secretary i announced a broad reorganization of the usda and part of that is the interface of the Rural Development. We elevated our Development Senior person to be writes to the secretary to have privileges to come in and discuss ideas off the cuff to make a schedule and to come in and say weve got this idea and we would like to do this, what do you think and get to kind of a no go person for the ideas and positions right away. I consider this to be an elevation of the development and i think that this idea and we would like to its turned out that way we look forward to having great things from the Development Staff across the country. Next, we heard trade, labor and regulation a lot. When you talk to farmers, they will complain to you about regulation and has you know, one of the first action the president took through the director of epa is to resend the most groups felt this was an onerous type of rule that would damage the way they farmed in a fairly significant way. So they considered reversing and reducing those kind of egulation and for every action we are under the obligation to ublish the regulatory actions, o if they have an impact the total regulatory costs must be offset by savings and we were reporting the cost savings of the deregulation to the president for the fall of john, we submitted 28 final dvd three actions and these we believe will generate measurable cost offsets totaling 26. 15 million in annualized savings. One of hose regulations has to do with our relationships to the states. This president , this administration understands we all serve the same people to have an integrated relationship across the level of government that i have never seen before. I am envious as a former governor to have had that kind of relationship with the federal government. To maximize the flexibility of the states is possible. One of my first actions as a secretary is to provide flexibility in the state and local School Systems regarding School Lunches. This got generated by a childhood friend of mine who told me after i was nominated, he said i told my granddaughter of the response of these of the secretary of agriculture were and it included School Lunches. Shes had great, do you think he can make School Lunches reat again . So that is kind of the way things happen. But also 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 van they ere in the ability to do their job and flexibility. Also as you are reading recently more lexibility in the snap program. We told the states is to provide support for families as they are strengthened and enabled for selfsufficiency. It is to maintain the integrity of the system by reducing fraud and ultimately help the families to grow stronger and more selfreliant. What we dont think of is regulatory but that is the irs and its happening with the tax bill, the tax code on farmers and mall businesses is greater than the numbers on a spreadsheet when we think of harming spiritually as a lifestyle it is also a that is also a business if youre not lifestyle it is also a that is profitable in you dont get to do it. Law. They will benefit from the provisions of the tax bill and also benefit from the reduction of the cost of time, reative thinking for innovation, positive vision that is robbed by having the plan for taxes and all those things. It just cannot be otally quantified in those areas, but they are real. It will be a great Christmas Present for the American People. And i want to applaud the President Trump. He has probably done what some people didnt think could be done. Didnt think could be done. Hes shown great leadership passing a bill and the Senate Passing a bill and now you have conference committee. That is the way things used to be done here. I want to tell you it starts with good people and im very proud to have steve on board with implementing a new operating model for 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 years. I said that admirable to say an organization like that for 20 years. How big is your board . He said fortier. I said you have 48 farmers that rotate on a two to three year basis and you managed to herd them for 20 years . You can do this job. And hes doing it. What he is determined to be data driven sound with a customer focus. I was telling you about the gee hiz technology out there. We have farmers on the field with some of the latest and greatest satellite Gps Technology on their combines an equipment and they have yet to fill out a paper form and facts it to the usda office. We dont have the technology they are. I mean we ave farmers sitting there in combines in their economist driven tractors and faxing and emailing and doing apps and verything else but if they want to see us they have to want to see us they have to come to town and get out of bed and stop working. We have the Human Resources to make it ossible. Its pleasantly surprised with their career employees. They are dedicated and we were delighted a week goes to hear that our employees are among the best 10 top places to work in the federal government moving up two notches to seventh place in the 2017th rankings. They are customer focused. They mean business for customers and they make the u. S. A better place to works as we give them the tools that they can work with to focus on the customer. Our twitter handle was mentioned and we have a likely twitter feed secretary sonny shows the places we go and people love to say that. It gives me inspiration for the future of agriculture times agriculture and we have a likely twitter feed secretary sonny shows the particularly silly of a lot of un with them. The convention i now most speakers dont play to do this but get out and tell them what state you are paid a matter of minutes minutes. Three and a tweets talk about where they were in where they were competing it was fun to see that. I exhorted them to be not only production is that gricultural producers and to be communicators. No longer can we sit a hind our farms and gates and do a great job roducing. We have to what we are doing at florida a m in tallahassee florida last week. Most people with the opportunities to communicate what agriculture is all about times about. They had wonderful research and water and soil science in so many other things that are happening that many people dont know about. They also have great innovative ideas about how to get the message across and engage and encourage agriculture. I asked institutions to incorporate agriculture and business engineering and s. T. E. M. Classes. You get all those hings and agriculture. Usda we are committed to helping the next generation of farmers. We ssigned it mou with fsa and we are committed to leadership development. I tell them its young people near future is not in the future, its now also using it and enjoying it. Hopefully he can tell that i love this job being secretary of agriculture. Its not just a job its a mission and a passion for me and thats why mary and i chose to leave 14 grandchildren and georgia to come for a lifetime opportunity to make a difference helping world people to prosper feeding ever in preserving our nations forests. The mission that usda is large and bold so in some way as i told you earlier we touch the lives of americans and countless others around the world on a daily basis. Im proud and humbled to serve President Trumps administration and the American People and with that i want to wish you all a merry christmas. Thank you. [applause] thank you for speaking with us mr. Secretary. We are into the questionandanswer period of this program. Apparently the ational press club has two mike times mics so we can go ack and forth. Congratulations on the innovation. Also we still wont have a question cards that members of the audience can pass out. Go do mbz live video questions for folks for the secretary. The first question you alluded a bit to people outside of ashington for whom you say policies really matter. Usda are directed to 40 million americans who use the food stamps. Supplemental. The president may be looking at top to bottom review of u. S. Social Services Programs in which s. N. A. P. Is involved in january to do some of the efforts you have on flexibility play into hat the separate could be in what could you see as changes to the s. N. A. P. Program and usda under a president ial top to bottom review . I think its speculative think about. Office of the president is looking out well for representative forms generally. E know the s. N. A. P. Programs is included in the farm bill and that is the times the way well proceed until Something Else comes about. The overall goal and think if you go back is included in the farm bill the most important and informative thing is to go back and read the initial statutory language dealing with food stamps or supplemental nutrition and it stated clearly this was a temporary supplemental kind of thing hopefully guiding people to selfsufficiency and selfreliance and i think thats what most American People think. Americans are very compassionate man want to help people when they are down. Most American People dont believe if you are able that should be a permanent lifestyle so one of the things you will see probably is a change ablebodied working adults or adults do not continue to rely in food stamps. I think its really considered a route of selfsufficiency whether selfsufficiency whether being the it be in the farm bill the s. N. A. P. Program or welfare rograms to follow. One area, theres a longstanding coalition of nutrition advocates and farm groups that come together to pass this bill and thats by far the largest usda program produces significant disruption o the s. N. A. P. Program needs a disruption to the farm program. Europe fully right. The coalition is past the farm bill for years i think you will be maintained the same. Change is not necessarily a partisan issue. Some people may object but by and large they are Bipartisan Group of people that believe that ablebodied adults without dependents should not rely on supplemental nutrition in the efforts for the American Public forever. I think that will be a provision that will not be totally disruptive to he principles of the combination of the farm bill provision as well as the supplemental nutrition bill. A final question on the nutrition program. Thereve been reports the usda is considering allowing states to place nutrition limits on the s. T. E. M. Program i. E. Limiting s. N. A. P. Purchases. Can you confirm those discussions and what kind of changes could lead to the s. N. A. P. Program on your own watch with drug testing . I can confirm those requests. We have a couple of waivers already regarding limiting the purchase of those types and its really kind of the popular hing in some camps. My concern obviously when usda administers that whered you where do you draw the line with different states . For instance if one state says you shouldnt have to meet any shouldnt be able to purchase Animal Protein there is that appropriate . Obviously the things suggested mostly her sugary drinks and snacks and salty snacks and those kinds of things that we deem unhealthy. Thats one thing but what about you should not have any products that have genetically engineered products in them. What about Animal Welfare issues . You shouldnt have any eggs that arent cage free. No meat or pork that is not produce in the humane provision so where do you draw the line . Thats a slippery slope that we will have to consider very carefully. Turning to weather issues in monitoring the discussion on nbc live. Heres another for you. Is the communication form for farmers and farm groups that seem worried about the president s threats to withdraw from the accord should they be worried about that in what world are you playing in discussions on that matter times matter . Wordy you join farmers for nafta . Im mentioned this in my remarks. I appreciate the fact that President Trump is a tough negotiator on the half of americans. I like a leader who believes in our nation believes in its productivity and belief that we have been unfairly taken in some places on some of he agreement that we have made and particularly in the enforcement area. Im confident that President Trump wants an agreement between canada and mexico and nafta that benefits the American People and benefits 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 a great nafta to that will benefit American Farmers and producers. All in all of you seem to be getting along with times with the present especially in comparison with some colleagues that the president tangles with publicly i. E. Rex tillerson and jeff sessions. Can you discuss how you communicate with President Trump especially when you essentially disagree or have different if on issues such as nafta . He loves me. You know the president is an interesting person and you see the public persona. I think he times ebenefits. One of the hings i appreciate about President Trump as erected and is forward and forceful as he is on many things he has what i define as the essence of a great leader. He always leaves the back or open for comments and he takes them into consideration and is willing to change his mind on that. I dont do this very often that we but we were invited to have lunch with him yesterday and we were there and they mentioned the fact early on he was very proud of the fact that he withdraw nafta and i showed him some of the facts of what nafta had done and how it benefited and he relented and changed his mind. I think thats a leader. I like to be forceful. I like o have a vision. I like to have a goal of where im going to i always have to listen and i found that to be true the have a goal of where im going president. We have a great relationship. I dont think he wants a secretary, he wants me to give him his best counsel his best council invested by city wants me to be right about that. He has High Expectations and frankly im challenged by those High Expectations. When will you be counseling him on renewable fuel standards understanding the u. S. Needs is not directly impact the standard but its important to farmers. Senator ted cruz put a hold on one of your nominees bill north sea of iowa leading to another freed will mark a band that has led to a new iscussion of renewable standard. Especially given his talking to folks like ted cruz to believe there should be reductions. The president during his campaign made a commitment to the people in the renewable fuel standard that i think the phrase was dont mess with our intestine he has lived up to that. He reiterated that and gain to senator grassley and senator Debbie Fisher about his commitment to that and he did well last week with senator cruz group of eight or nine senators there that were particularly concerned about the prices. The president understands we got to do something about ram prices and the good news is theres a winwin in there. Its very complex but theres a winwin. Ethanol reducers are not in it for the ram they are in it for the volume of renewable volume ver ethanol production. They want to be careful of regarding that we have to figure out and we are working this week with he people senator cruz his people and others epa and others to help resolve the ramp races that some believe to be very speculative and cornering on the market there that have damaged the refiners. The president wants the refiners and more refineries based on our new sub petroleum supplies and National Resource but he also knows he is committed and he is articulated to those scientists that he is committed to the rfs program and i think the numbers administrator pruitt put out last week are the appropriate ones. We hope to be part of the solution on the concern for the refiners of her ram prices as well. i. Show less text the biggest item on legislative agenda for agriculture is lmost certainly the upcoming farm bill. How closely have you been in consultation with the congressional agriculture committees on the farm bill on the possibility could there be that you might providing some of your own legislative. We are consultants to the ag committees as they desire. We will be as hands off her andson as they choose us to e that i think they understand based on what you heard the litany of this is that you heard that we have information on what farmers believe what has worked and what is not work. Where are willing to based on what you heard the litany of this is that you share that and as indicated earlier we will be releasing what we think is the appropriate dance between the usda and congress. I dont think its the responsibility f usda to write a farm bill. I dont think its the responsibility to be handsoff. We will be giving broad principles that we think should be included in the farm bill and it will go further. Their requests we will do a deep dive based on the facts and the data that we have to support our view over those principles. I will give you a little metaphor that i think the farm bill ought to contain is a good safety net for producers. I heard this if you think about what is a safety net think about going to the circus and looking at a highwire act or a trapeze act and if the net is put right under the wire theres not much thrilled there but if its put on the concrete floor you could get really hurt. The balance is to have it at the right area where there is risk in farming. Farmers dont mind the risk or they that they just dont want to lose the bar literally if hurricanes tornadoes floods come in and destroy all of heir equity. With a few more minutes for questions and feel free to submit her questions from the udience. Please write legibly. Increases your chances of having your question asked. Heres one from the audience. Specifically Crop Insurance will undoubtedly be a topic of increases your chances of onversation the next farm bill appeared with the u. S. D. A. Going to do with approximate 1. 4 billion dollars that it seems to be saving from preventive planting and what happens in the aftermath of that policy . I guess you are referring to the purchase of the 10 up preventive planning but if you can help me find that 1. 4 billion id like to nowhere does. That is not our calculation. I can talk with you afterwards tell me where the 1. 4 billion system i will tell you what we will do with t. Another question dealing with the farm bill and with funding or a good culture programs dealing with international i go cultural development. The u. S. For decades has been a leader in supporting developing world farmers of the land grant universities and Extension Programs worldwide. How does that vision of developing world armers it with the president s America First vision and a more competitive agricultural landscape . I think it fits with this landscape . I think it fits with this vision. I think we probably have some persuasion to understand what the opportunities are for investment and our land grant and dark developing farmer perspective. I would go with the present facetoface might save American Manufacturing at he same level of basic research in agriculture apply research in agriculture and deliver system like the Extension Service i dont really think we did the talking about the demise of American Manufacturing. Im a proponent and im a user of the Extension Service and a land the Land Grant University along with Agriculture Research service that i believe is a Great Partnership for discovery. I think what we are seeing with the productivity of american agriculture is exhibit a and what its meant to American Farmers. In discussing an issue that certainly came up in your discussion outside of washington and in Rural America zero fayyad crisis. The american released results on farmers addiction opiate addiction. What role does the usda play in this challenge facing farmers and ranchers in the real communities they live n . Sadly these are true numbers and this is one of the reasons i have charged and pays lip as her director Rural Development to develop a cooperative program with other agencies in the federal government. We dont want to throw money and necessarily but whether it be rural Treatment Centers helping in rural communities, this is an addiction that is just as rampant in rural areas as it is an suburban in suburban in rural areas. Secretary vilsack told me earlier in the transition that this was something they worked on and we hoped would be part of the solution. Any drug addiction is no silver bullet. Its making a solution. Any drug addiction is no silver bullet. Its making a lot of things but again i think the up and proving of the Rural Economy will help in the hope and diminished much of the despair that leads to certainly Prescription Drug addiction leading to a opioid addiction. i. Show less text 00 53 59 next month the Trump Administration will be 1yearold. You were the last cabinet secretary to be sworn in the pace of hiring at at the sda giver mark several times is not necessarily been at the pace you would like to say. We have some reinforcements arriving but there are several positions still open to one of them is the undersecretary position for research and education with the sam clovis nomination. He of course later withdrew. What progress is the administration making specifically on the nominee for this post and will this person have a scientific background . Good progress, yes. Xpand. Certainly. After dr. Clovis withdrawal we are looking strongly across the United States for the best person with a scientific background that certainly. After dr. Clovis can have no questions about that. Academia can be a very comfortable environment so 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 that we are we are looking at right now that would make great chief scientist for the department of agriculture. How comfortable are you feeling with usda and what is your goal for the next year . Im feeling good. Our goal this year, next year and the year fter is to be the most effective than the most effective than the most efficient the most customer focused and the best managed federal agency you have ever seen. Not idle what my Communications People say that Communications People say that we are going to be judged by you. Thank you for staying with the secretary perdue. We are not done with you yet. We have still the traditional ongstanding tradition. We give this to all of our speakers and we hope that this be the first of several you receive. Some people get entire dining sets by the time the time they are in they are in office. This is the national ress club mug. And e are still not done with you. We have some final announcements and then we have the other tradition which is our final question. Before we conclude our program with the final question we want to know an upcoming headliner that we dont want you to miss. Walter announcements and then we have the other tradition which is our final question. Before we conclude our program with the final question we want to know an upcoming headliner that we dont want you to miss. Walter isaacson former editor of time and former chairman of cnn. Never heard of it. Another reason to get on with the present. Walter isaacson the former cnn chairman will announcements and then we have the other tradition which is our final question. Before we conclude our program with the be discussing his new book Leonardo Da Vinci. You have heard of him. Even though i went to the university of georgia i have heard of him. You said it here first. On december 18 for more details please go to the National Press club web site. One of the things we try to do here at the National Press club 110 Year Organization which recently elected new president. We want to congratulate the new present at the National Press club and all of the other folks who have this great trust in this challenging time for journalism. One of the things we would like to do is stay timely and go with current events. You are former governor of georgia and understanding all states are not the same peer trust me i have dealt with iowans and im a native minnesotan. Ive learned this over the years but theres an important election going on in wednesday to your to your west nile ben mezrich im not going to ask you to handicap the race that is a state official in State Government and ran the state in the southeast for two terms, im wondering what your thoughts are in terms of how the president s political environment local state races will get nationalized. When alabamas voters are going into the voting booth today how much is this National Attention going to matter and what sort of message could the results in alabama in any case potentially mean to the nation . Is a thats a great question. Probably more than we think. Its 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 alabamians are going to vote for what they believe is in their best interest and to heck with what people outside of alabama think. I think i was sharing with my lunch partners here today that we see this and president ial off years. President obama while very popular 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 all love to write about that. I dont think when a voter goes into the voting booth they think about the nationalization of what it means to President Trump or what it means to president obama. I think they are voting for what they believe is their right as a voter to select their representatives for congress. Once again please offer a National Press club front of applause to our speaker sonny believe is their right as a voter to select their representatives for congress. Once again please offer a National Press club front of applause to our speaker sonny perdue and thank you so much for being here today at the National Press club luncheon. Once again the Club President in 2010 coming back for the believe is their right as a voter to select their representatives for congress. Special event for their secretary of agriculture. Again thanking the members of her Headliners Team responsible for the event as well as the staff led by executive editor bill mccarran and once again dont forget Walter Isaacson the former editor of time and former cnn chairman discussing Leonardo Da Vinci at the head liners defense on ecember 18. This is going to be one of the last luncheons of this year. They sure to check out the National Press club events in the calendar for next year. Once again on behalf of the National Press club todays meeting of the National Press lub is adjourned. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] e one of the last luncheons of the house will vote on the tax bill on tuesday. The tax reform bill is now available on line. To find that go to cspan. Org congress and watch the debate and vote live tuesday on cspan. This weekend, today at 6 00 on the civil war, jnls we love to hate generals we love to hate. Johnstons critics argue hat his timidty with the enemy and combatness with the confederate government, made a contributing factor in defeat. To these critics, johnston was he real mcclellan a contributi. Two days after his return from new york, the president s the daughter became bride of captain charles roth of the the bride of captain charles roth of the United States marine corps. Historicically the First White House wedding in 53 years. At 6 00. The 200 year history of the Willard Hotel of washington, d. C. When he introduced himself and his wife, he said i wanted to introduce you to the long and the short. The graduates are local Law Enforcement officers around the ountry who completed the special course. The president s remarks are just under an hour. Special course. The president s