Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) questioned Brooke Rollins, President Trump’s pick to serve as Secretary of Agriculture, on her commitment to deploying resources to battle wildfires and allocate funds to support California’s agricultural industry.
Watch the full clip HERE
Key Excerpts:
On ensuring Rollins will support aid to battle California’s wildfires:
Schiff: Over the last two and a half weeks in L.A., it’s been difficult for me to put into words how truly catastrophic these fires have been. Just the scope of them is beyond anything I would have ever imagined. Whole neighborhoods and communities just wiped out. The Forest Service has been playing an amazing role in the emergency response efforts, working hand in hand with state and local partners to secure resources and personnel. To aid California’s wildfire response, this month the Forest Service deployed 2,300 federal firefighters, 12 large air tankers, 20 helicopters, six scoopers and eight modular airborne firefighting aircraft. Without these federal resources, the devastation in L.A. would have been far worse, and we’re not done with it yet. We had the outbreak of another fire just yesterday. If confirmed as secretary, are you committed to deploying the same emergency resources to fight wildfires in blue states that would be deployed to fight wildfires in red states? Can we count on you not to discriminate among states in the vigor of the federal response?
Rollins: Senator, thank you, and obviously, but it bears saying, since you asked — 100%, yes and to watch the devastation in your beautiful state has been heartbreaking for all of us, no matter if we’re from red states or blue states. I think that hopefully, if there’s any good that comes from this, if I’m confirmed, we can figure out how to be even a better, more impactful resource the next time this happens, and hopefully be able to work more closely, more quickly with those on the ground across blue states and red states.
On the need for a nonpartisan approach to allocate funds for California’s crop industry:
Schiff: I appreciate that. Let me turn to a different topic. During the President’s first term, USDA had to allocate tens of billions of dollars to offset the financial impact of the tariffs and the reciprocal tariffs that other countries imposed on our agriculture and on our farmers. But that financial assistance offered to farmers impacted by the trade war was not equally distributed. Despite California’s leading role in U.S. agriculture and the heavy tariffs imposed on specialty crop exports, California growers receive far less than their fair share in tariff assistance under the 2019 market facilitation program. Out of hundreds of specialty crops grown in the U.S., only eight crops received direct assistance. And in the end, approximately 1% of the nearly $15 billion in USDA allocated resources went to California specialty crop growers, so about 1%. And as you know, we’re the leading state when it comes to specialty crops. If confirmed, are you committed to distributing all economic assistance, including trade relief, to states without regard for their political leanings?
Rollins: I am committed to that. I think Senator Slotkin, even you and I discussed the specialty crops in Michigan when we met. I look forward to, I’m not familiar with the data that you laid out, but I look forward to learning more about that and being committed to ensuring that, to the very, very best of our ability, that this is appropriately adjudicated.
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