Secretary of Agriculture names three candidates to leadership positions

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue named three candidates to leadership positions held up by lack of Senate approval by shifting their titles to those that do not require Senate confirmation, including naming Dr. Mindy Brashears to lead the agency’s food safety efforts. In May 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Brashears as USDA’s under secretary for food safety, a position unfilled since Elisabeth Hagen left the job in December 2013 during the Obama Administration. The Senate has yet to confirm the appointment. On Monday, Perdue named Brashears as deputy under secretary for food safety, along with two other unconfirmed appointees -- Naomi Earp as deputy assistant secretary for civil rights, and Dr. Scott Hutchins as deputy under secretary for research, education, and economics, in a statement that pointedly said, “These positions do not require Senate confirmation.” All three had been confirmed by the Senate Agriculture Committee to more senior roles, but their nominations expired without receiving confirmation votes by the end of the 115th Congress in early January. The President has resubmitted their nominations to the Senate in the 116th Congress.