U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today selected three highly-qualified individuals for senior leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  Perdue named Dr. Mindy Brashears as Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, Naomi Earp as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, and Dr. Scott Hutchins as Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics.  These positions do not require Senate confirmation. 

The three previously had been nominated by President Donald Trump for Senate-confirmed positions at USDA. While the Senate Agriculture Committee on a bipartisan basis favorably reported all three nominees, their nominations expired without receiving confirmation votes by the end of the 115^th Congress in early January.  The President has resubmitted their nominations to the Senate in the 116^th Congress.

“At USDA, we’ve been engaged in fulfilling our mission without all of our players on the field, so we want to get these strong, qualified leaders in the game,” Perdue said.  “I want to thank these three for their patience, as their professional lives have been placed on hold for months during their nomination process.  Now, they will get to work right away on behalf of the American people.  Nevertheless, I urge the Senate to act on their new nominations as quickly as possible, so we can have them in the positions for which they were intended in the first place.”

The three have been re-nominated for more senior roles than the ones Perdue selected them to fill in their respective mission areas at USDA.  Dr. Brashears was nominated for Under Secretary for Food Safety; Earp was nominated for Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights; and Dr. Hutchins was nominated for Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics. 

While in their deputy roles as selected by Perdue, they will not be serving in “acting” capacities for the positions for which they have been nominated.  As a result, they will not be able to exercise the functions or powers expressly delegated to the Senate-confirmed positions.  As Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, Dr. Hutchins will oversee the Office of the Chief Scientist, with Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young continuing to serve as Acting Chief Scientist.

Brashears, Earp, and Hutchins will begin working at USDA on Tuesday, January 29, 2019.

Dr. Brashears is a Professor of Food Safety and Public Health and the Director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University. Dr. Brashears’ research program focuses on improving food safety standards to make an impact on public health. Her highly acclaimed work evaluates interventions in pre- and post-harvest environments and on the emergence of antimicrobial drug resistance in animal feeding systems. These efforts have resulted in commercialization of a pre-harvest feed additive that can reduce E. coli and Salmonella in cattle. She also leads international research teams to Mexico, Central and South America to improve food safety and security and to set up sustainable agriculture systems in impoverished areas. She is past-Chair of the National Alliance for Food Safety and Security and of the USDA multi-state research group.

Source: USDA