USDA Secretary Candidates Meet with Trump

President-elect Donald Trump met with several people under consideration for USDA Secretary, one of his few remaining unfilled Cabinet positions. Trump met with former Texas Rep. Henry Bonilla and former Texas commissioner of agriculture Susan Combs at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has been spending time over the holidays. Texas agricultural commissioner Sid Miller also met with some of Trump's senior aides. Speaking afterwards, Bonilla said his meeting with Trump "went very well... There were general questions about the agency, general discussion about regulations that farmers want fixed," Bonilla said. Asked why he felt he was suited for the role, Bonilla said: "I chaired the agriculture appropriations sub-committee for my last six years in Congress, and it was a huge responsibility to be in charge of the budget for all of the USDA," he said.Miller said he had a "very good" meeting with Trump aides Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus, saying they discussed the weather, grandkids and agriculture. Trump met earlier in the week with Elsa Murano, the former president of Texas A&M, about heading USDA, and with and former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado.Other potential candidates or people "floated" for the position include former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, former Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman and Trump campaign agriculture advisory committee chairman Charles Herbster.Perdue may be Trump's selection for USDA post, according to some sources. Perdue was born in Perry, Georgia. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he served as a state senator. In 2003, he became the first Republican governor of the state in 130 years. He stepped down in 2011, and the same year he founded Perdue Partners LLC, which is an Atlanta-based trading company.Perdue is not related to the family of the same name that owns chicken producer Perdue Farms Inc.