Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming last week’s bipartisan confirmation and swearing-in of the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, who received a Senate vote of 72-28. 

“I’m happy to see the new Secretary of Agriculture in place, so the USDA can be focused on the priorities at hand, including their role in U.S. food security, nutrition, and agricultural support,” said Congresswoman Amata. “Having the leadership team in place is in American Samoa’s best interest. USDA has a direct role for American Samoa’s nutrition program and grants, as well as an ongoing role in our grocery imports. Secretary Rollins has the education and expertise to be effective and I look forward to working with her.” 

Secretary Rollins graduated with honors from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development. She graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law, served in former Texas Governor Rick Perry’s administration, led a public policy institute in Texas, and served in the White House during the first Trump administration as Director of the Office of American Innovation, then Director of the Domestic Policy Council and Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives. 

BACKGROUND

The conservative lawyer was confirmed this past Thursday as secretary of agriculture, placing a close ally of President Donald Trump into a key Cabinet position at a time when mass deportation plans could lead to farm labor shortages and tariffs could hit agricultural exports.

Rollins will now lead a department tasked with overseeing nearly all aspects of the nation’s food system, including standards on farming practices and livestock rearing, federal subsidies to farmers or agribusinesses and setting nutrition standards for schools and public health officials nationwide.

The Department of Agriculture was at the center of Trump’s trade war in his last administration, when it increased subsidies to farmers growing the nation’s two biggest crops, corn and soybeans, after retaliatory tariffs were levied by China on the grains and international markets were disrupted. The United States is the world’s largest food exporter… or was.