Biden picks Vilsack for USDA secretary: What a disappointment

Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa and Obama’s agriculture secretary, got called up again for Cabinet duty by President-elect Joe Biden to be Biden’s agriculture secretary.

Early on, I said Biden should be able to pick anybody he wants for his Cabinet but this one left me disappointed. Why? Because I read the reports about Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., lobbying for Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, to become the next USDA chief. Fudge sits on the House Committee on Agriculture and chairs its subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight and Department Operations, and said she would spotlight hunger and nutrition, farmworkers and food chain supply alongside working with farmers and rural communities as the U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary.

She also said she would address issues like clean water and ways agriculture can help address climate change, Roll Call reported.

Fudge as agriculture secretary would be in line with Biden’s “Build Back Better” message, especially now with the Covid-19 pandemic causing food bank lines extending for miles, and farmers hurting from Trump’s tariffs.

It would have been a refreshing change for the USDA to focus on hunger and nutrition. Food banks and other groups that deal with “food insecurity” along with unions and worker rights…