On cspan2 if it becomes available. Yesterday, former georgia governor sonny perdue was on capitol hill for his confirmation hearing to be the next agricultural secretary. This is about two and half hours. Good morning members of the committee. I call this meeting of the Senate Committee on Agriculture Administration and for street to order. This morning we welcome governor sonny perdue. The president s nominee for u. S. Secretary of agriculture. Members of this committee have great appreciation for the Farmers Ranchers and consumers and other stakeholders that are directly affected by the decisions made by the secretary. The department of agriculture is made up of 29 agencies and offices. It employs nearly 100,000 men and women that work in all 50 states around the globe. The department provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, World Development, nutrition, Scientific Research and related issues that impact americans every day. Throughout our nations history, our farmers, ranchers and folks in Rural America have survived drought, disease, floods, tornadoes, and. Fires in kansas, and whatever else Mother Nature throws at them. Year after year they produce the safest most abundant and affordable food supply in the world. However, today, growers from across the country are facing tough Economic Times with multiple years of low prices. These same producers need a strong market for their goods. During this article time, our Agricultural Industry cannot be overstated. If that was not enough, over the past previous years farmers and ranchers have been burdened by regulation from agencies all across the federal government. I have heard time and time again, as well as many members of this committee about the costly and hard to understand regulations that endanger the ability of our producers to stay in business. This committee will continue its efforts to make government a partner to success, not an adversary. This committee has a lot of work to do including the reauthorization of the farm bill. We intend to do that work in a bipartisan fashion that has served us so well in the past. I want to personally thank Ranking Member and former chairperson of this committee, the senator from michigan. Now more than ever, agriculture needs a voice and advocate at the highest levels of government. Governor purdue has been nominated to serve in that role. He is from georgia and spent his entire life in and around agriculture. The governor was raised on a farm and was a practicing veterinarian but before returning to his home county to work in the grain business but he was elected to serve in local and State Government including two terms of governor of georgia. While serving farmers throughout the northeast to gain firsthand experience with the complexity of transportation and the Global Commodities market. Governor, the senates role of advice and consent is an important responsibility. Today is a key step in that process. We look forward to hearing your testimony and to asking you questions about how you view the role of agriculture secretary, should you be confirmed. In addition to the governor i would like to welcome and recognize his wife mary, his four children and their spouses and his 14 grandchildren. The governor has also been joined by many of his friends and former staff from georgia. We welcome you all to the committee. I am especially glad to have our former add Committee Chairman and senator from georgia and georgia congressman david scott who serves on the house Agriculture Committee. He is with us to provide introductions of our nominee and congressman Sanford Bishop is here in the audience to support the nominee as well. Its good to see you again. Before we hear from the congressman, i want to turned things over for any remarks the Ranking Member would like to make. Thank you. Its great to be with you today as i move forward on this great position. Welcome governor purdue. Its pretty impressive that youve got some beautiful grandchildren as well as children and family members and we know you are proud of your grandpa and were happy to have you here today. To my friends, we worked on a lot of farm bills together and thank you for your service as chair and someone advocating for georgia and all of the interest. Its great to see you. Weve got a lot of Work Together with our colleagues in the house to be able to get the next farm bill done. We look forward to doing that. Its clear that agriculture and rule america need to have a seat at the table. We always do, but its clear we need to make sure thats happening with this administration. Looking back at our history, our president knew that farmers were the foundation of the country. Thats why president linking created the fda and called it the people department. He understood that agriculture is a cornerstone of our economy and that the department has a special relationship with the people it served. Americas farmers and ranchers grow the safest most affordable food supply in the world. We should be very proud of that. I always say Food Security is national security. Having a food secure nation makes our country safe. Its usdas job to ensure we can continue to make things and grow things in every state. Michigan is the second most diverse state in the country. Its important that they are voice for kansas, georgia and all of those across the nation. Large and small, conventional and organic, those who sell overseas or to their neighbors. We need a voice for all the farmers. In agricultural secretary will need to look past regional divide and partisan pressures to support all farmers, all families in Rural Communities. Right now we need an advocate to stand up for them with this administration. Usda not only helps a farmer weather storms, they save them from wildfires in the west and make lakes and rivers safe for families to enjoy and ensure children have the healthy food they need to learn and grow into healthy adults. Rule america is the economic backgrounbackbone of our countro many economies are struggling to recovery from the great recession. Over the past eight years they have made targeted investments and world economies and now we are beginning to see these communities on the road to recovery, but we need to make sure these Investments Continue so we can keep moving forward. Unfortunately during the two months of the administration, its clear that role america has been an afterthought. Even before President Trump took office he sent a message by waiting to the last minute to name his pic for agricultural secretary. The Budget Proposal made it clear that role america is not a top priority for this administration. The proposal cut u. S. Funding by 21 . The Third Largest cut to any federal agency. In addition to eliminating critical World Development and International Food aid programs, the administration has put a target on hundreds of critical programs that go through the appropriations process. In fact, under the budget, important resources for farmers and families are facing cuts averaging 33 . We need a secretary of agriculture who will advocate for the Important Services u. S. Da provides and rural families and farmers need. We need a strong voice to insist the president listen to the 500 groups that are saying that agriculture, conservation, Food Assistance and other Farm Bill Program should not be cut further after agreeing to a 23 billion cut in the last farm bill. We also need someone who will partner closely with congress, especially as we put together the next farm bill and look at other key issues like immigration and trade that have a tremendous impact on farmers in Rural Communities. In the 2014 farm bill, we made bipartisan reform that sa saved taxpayers billions and protected the integrity of the farm safety net. The Budget Office estimated recently that the current farm bill, if we made no changes, would save 80 billion more than initially projected the next ten years. Its largely driven by Crop Insurance costs going down and reduced spending on Food Assistance as the economy has improved. This congress we working hard to move another bipartisan farm bill. I am excited for this challenge. With usda leadership and all of our stakeholders, i know we can get it done. We worked together before and we will do it again, but a community that we represent the entire country. Especially during the times of low pressure and uncertainty emma we need the next secretary to be an unapologetic advocate for all of rule america. We need someone who will be tenacious like a georgian bulldog. Governor purdue, we need a champion and i know you know that. Right now, more than ever. Today i look forward to learning more about your views and qualifications to lead one of the most important departments in our federal government. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I think the senator from michigan. It is my privilege to recognize a distinguished former member of this committee, our colleague and friend. I am truly honored to be here today. I am humbled to be on this side of the dice. I am particularl particularly pe here to introduce my good friend, the governor of georgia, sunny purdue who was chosen to be the next secretary of agriculture. I spent 12 of the best years of my life right here. When people ask me what do i miss in the senate im quick to respond that what i miss all the good friends i made over my 20 years in congress. Members of this committee are at the top of the list of those best friends. Its on both sides of the aisle. I truly am pleased to be here. When i was sworn in as a new member of the house of representatives in january 1995, i was given the next to the last seat on that committee which was made up of more than 50 members. The chairman of that committee was a gentleman from kansas, mr. Mr. Chairman, youre probably the only person in the history of our both committees and i will still your phrase because ive heard you say it so often that it sometimes a powerful add committee, but you are to be congratulated from having the honor of chairing both committees. Governor Sonny Perdues note stranger to agriculture. He grew up on a farm in georgia. He graduated from Veterinary School at the university of georgia and after a two or in the air force returned to be actively engaged in crop farming as well as in the operation of very successful Grain Elevator business. When i was elected to congress, he was a constituent of mine and it was by that time in his life a member of the Georgia State senate. We shared the interest of defense as well as agriculture and are respected positions and we began a dialogue that has lasted to this day. In 2002 sonny decided to run for governor of georgia and i iran for u. S. Senate. Needless to say, we spent many hours campaigning over the next year prior to that election. When you eat a lot of Fried Chicken and barbecue and ride a bus with somebody for a long time, you get to know them and i got to know sunny well. That november he was elected as the first republican governor in our state in 130 years. His been a leader and everything hes been involved in doing. As a farmer he was a leader in the field of agribusiness in our state. As a member of the senate he was elected by his. To be the president of the senate and as governor he was the chairman of the republican governors association. When he was elected governor sonny did what good leaders do and that is to surround himself with good people. He went out and found an experience ceo and cfo. He also improve the states leadership by implementing a meritocracy in that he went out and found the best and most qualified people to run every one of our state agencies, irrespective of the local affiliation of those individuals. He committed to make georgia the best managed state in the nation and he receives Significant National recognition for his accomplishments. When he was elected the state couldnt produce an audit so he created the first state Accounting Office to focus on the timeliness and usefulness of financial information. Technology and purchasing systems at the state level were antiquated. Under his leadership those systems were updated and the state purchasing system received many awards for its efficiency and accountability. A new state data center was established and much of the appropriate technology was outsourced in order to stay current and technologically state of the art. We all know that technology at usda today is way behind the curve. Its inefficient and it is not farmer friendly. This will be a challenge to sunny but i am confident he will be up to that challenge. One of his most significant initiatives was the Customer Service focus to treat citizens of our state as customers and to create services for them that were faster, friendlier and easier. That reduce the time and improve the Customer Experience in everything from getting a drivers license to getting a tax refund. It also produced a cultural change as the employees bought into this initiative. Such an effort at usda would be a vast improvement in the relationship with washington and its largest customers at usda, farmers and ranchers. This kind of executive experience and leadership, combined with sonnys knowledge of usda programs make them ideally suited to be the next secretary of agriculture. Mr. Chairman, i would urge this committee to approve this nomination and bring his confirmation to a vote on the floor of the senate as soon as possible. I thank you very much. Thank you for next line statement. On behalf of the governor it is my personal pleasure and privilege to introduce a member of the House Agricultural Committee. Currently is david scott. David we are delighted to have you here in the upper body. We will go any farther with that. Please proceed. German roberts, thank you for that, but i do want to make one slight correction. When you said the house agriculture was sometimes influential and powerful, may we add an addendum to that so it will go out that the House Agricultural Committee has always been and will always be powerful and influential. I appreciate that correction. It was just only one chairman that had the tenure when it was sometimes powerful. [laughter] touche my friend, i will take that into consideration. General roberts, i am greatly honored and very thankful to have this opportunity to come and stand with my dear friend, my longtime friend sonny perdue. I want to take a few minutes to share with you some things about sonny that you need to know. My good friend went into great detail to share with you his immense qualifications, his education, the fact that he went to the university of georgia the veterinarian school, but i am here to explain to you why sonny perdue is indeed the right person at the right time to do the absolute best job. The talent that i have shared and have witnessed with him, in coming up through Georgia State senate. You see committee members, i was chairman of the Senate Rules Committee in georgia for ten years. My good friend sonny perdue was the president pro tem. Im not saying that to shake about on our credentials, but i think if you put that in the context of the Georgia Legislature and, i assure you the georgia legislator was one of the most exciting places to be, every 40 days that went on for almost 80 days. Now, sonny and i had to meet every single day to Work Together to set the agenda, to determine what bills got onto the floor in the house and the senate. Sometimes night after night, and when we did that we had to also sit with the governor and the speaker and you talk about some fireworks, there were plenty in that Georgia Legislature. But you get to understand a persons temperament when you are on the battlefield with them. Their courage, their decisiveness, and sonny perdue was just that person. And so, on all of the major pieces of legislation, that affected eve every georgian of y strike of every condition, setting perdue had a very integral part of that. And so, i want to take just a few minutes, if i may because whats important to me is to make sure that my friend sonny perdue becomes the secretary of agriculture very quickly and that he comes with his record unblemished. Thats why i wanted to you to know at the outset, sonny perdue and i worked into the midnight hours night after night. You get to know person. He and i were like brothers, and i am grateful for that relationship. I want to take just a minute to address an issue that i know may or may not come up. I would be derelict in my duty if i did not set the record straight on the confederate battle flag business. It has been in the air. I want to make sure that when you measure sunny purdue on that issue, as well as all issues, that you measure sunny purdue right. Now, let me just give the committee, and the nation a preview and a setting. First of all, sonny perdue and i came along at a very significant time when georgia made one of its most hysterical moments in changing the confederate battle flag