The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee on Monday advanced nominees for three key posts at the Agriculture Department, mainly on party-line votes.
The panel approved former Rep. Stella Yvette Herrell of New Mexico to be an assistant secretary of Agriculture for congressional relations — a potentially important job in smoothing relations between the committee and the Trump administration on a coming reorganization of the USDA. Sen. Ben Ray Luján joined the committee’s Republicans in favor on a 13-10 vote.
Other nominees advancing were John Walk for inspector general and Mindy Brashears to head the Food Safety and Inspection Service, both on party-line votes of 12-11.
Herrell, who was unseated in the 2022 election by Gabe Vasquez, struck a collaborative tone at her nomination hearing Oct. 29, promising ranking Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota that she’ll work to get faster answers to the senator’s inquiries to the USDA.
