Political Quotes

“Thank you very much for those kind words from the senior Senator from Iowa. We have partnered on many things together related to agriculture. I rise today to support Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst in this motion. We need to fill this position with an eminently qualified person, Bill Northey, right away. It is long overdue. As the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I am in strong support of the nomination of Bill Northey to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services. Despite historic delays in receiving nominations from the administration, our committee has worked swiftly on a bipartisan basis to put qualified leaders into place at the USDA. When we get qualified nominees, we move them, and Under Secretary nominee Bill Northey is no exception. In fact, I believe that he is a bright star in terms of the nominees and those that will be serving in the USDA. He was nominated in September of last year. Our committee quickly held a hearing and reported his nomination with unanimous bipartisan support to the floor on October 19. Mr. Northey is a highly qualified nominee. He is currently serving his third term as secretary of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. A farmer himself, he understands what American agriculture needs, and has pledged to be a strong leader for our producers. I have confidence in him.…”