Obama Cabinet and Key White House Staff
6. Tom Vilsack (D) - Secretary of Agriculture
Former Governor, Iowa
Former State Senator, Iowa
Nominated: December 17, 2008
Obama’s comments:
“It’s time for a new kind of leadership in Washington that’s committed to using our lands in a responsible way to benefit all our families. That means ensuring that even as we are promoting development where it makes sense, we are also fulfilling our obligation to protect our national treasures. It means ensuring that we are using our farmlands not only to strengthen our agricultural economy, but to grow advanced biofuels that will help make the United States energy independent and create jobs. That is the kind of leadership embodied by Ken Salazar and Tom Vilsack, and I look forward to working with them in the years ahead.”
Others’ comments:
“From 2000 to 2006, Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa, and his wife collected $42,782 in subsidies from the department he was tapped Wednesday to oversee.
“Also, Vilsack is a partner at a lobbying law firm that trumpeted his advice to clients on agribusiness development and renewable energy—a job that appears to bump up against Obama’s promise to bar appointees from working on issues related to their employment for two years.
“Vilsack told Politico he ‘will do whatever is appropriate in the face of the conflict’ between his job as agriculture secretary and his work at the law firm, Dorsey & Whitney. And he said that ‘if the law requires that I forgo (the farm subsidy) income, then that is what I will do.’”
“A spokesman for Obama’s transition team, Nick Shapiro, said, ‘Governor Vilsack was not a lobbyist on agriculture issues and of course he will represent the interests of the President-elect and the American people, not his former employer.’”
—Politico
“For those of us who have serious health and environmental concerns about genetically engineered (GE) crops, cloning, and industrial agriculture in general, it would be difficult to pick someone with a worse track record. Vilsack was even named Governor of the Year by the Biotechnology Industry Organization for his ‘support of the industry’s economic growth.’
“Small wonder. Under Governor Vilsack, the state of Iowa invested millions of dollars of taxpayer funds in dubious biotechnology start-ups, such as cow cloner Trans Ova Genetics ($9 million) and pharmaceutical corn developer, ProdiGene, Inc. ($6 million). Iowa’s investment in ProdiGene was particularly unfortunate. The company not only proved a financial failure, but in 2002, an Iowa cornfield that became contaminated with the company’s genetically engineered pharma corn had to be destroyed. One hopes Mr. Vilsack has learned from this experience. He also supported (some say instigated) a bill in 2005 that pre-empted cities and counties from regulating GE crops more strictly than the state or federal government. On biotechnology policy, Vilsack is far from the visionary we had hoped for.
“Vilsack has also been a big supporter of ethanol, as is President-elect Obama. On this issue, they’re clearly in synch, but their enthusiasm is terribly misplaced. The latest science demonstrates clearly that corn-based ethanol exacerbates rather than mitigates global warming, while so-called cellulosic ethanol from crop waste and prairie grass (which might have value, the jury is still out) is years away from commercial use. Even some of ethanol’s strongest supporters in Congress, like Senator Tom Harkin, have come to question corn-based ethanol. President-Elect Obama and Mr. Vilsack should make elimination of federal subsidies for corn-to-ethanol—which now total several billion dollars per year—a top priority.
“However, Vilsack has made some promises that are easy to rally behind. He says he supports biotech firm liability in cases of contamination episodes. He has also said that USDA should require companies to demonstrate no harm to markets for conventional and organic crops before approving new GE crops.”
—The Huffington Post, Andrew Kimbrell Op-Ed
Approved: January 20, 2009
Sworn in: January 21, 2009
Challenges:
“Because Congress already has set crop subsidies and other agricultural policies for the next five years, with a farm bill enacted in May over President George W. Bush’s veto, Vilsack could be a low-visibility Cabinet secretary. Even so, he’ll confront a difficult-to-manage agency that spends $89 billion a year.
“The Agriculture Department’s systematic problems, identified by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, include:
• Subsidy abuse. The Agriculture Department paid crop subsidies totaling $1.1 billion in the names of 172,800 deceased individuals from 1999 to 2005. Critics decry the continuing payment of subsidies to wealthy farmers.
• Food dangers. Food safety-inspection staffing has declined steadily over the past decade despite budget increases, while the quantity of contaminated meat and poultry recalled by the industry has increased sharply.
• Civil-rights woes. Even after paying nearly $1 billion to minority farmers after a class-action lawsuit, the department still faces discrimination complaints.”
—Miami Herald
“As secretary, Vilsack, 57, will face two tasks immediately—working with Congress to renew USDA’s child nutrition programs, which cost more than $15 billion a year, and deciding whether to tighten USDA’s eligibility rules for farm subsidies.”
—NewsDaily.com
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