USDA secretary nominee says politics shouldn't influence California wildfire response

Efforts by the U.S. Forest Service to fight wildfires in California shouldn't be influenced by politics, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday at her Senate confirmation hearing.

Responding to questions from a Senate panel, nominee Brooke Rollins also acknowledged that Trump's plans for mass deportations and tariffs could create hardships for the agriculture industry, but she said his election demonstrated that the public supports such actions.

Trump nominated Rollins, who also served in his first administration, to lead a sprawling agency that oversees farming, forestry, ranching, food quality and nutrition. If confirmed as agriculture secretary, Rollins would take charge of the agency at a time when many farmers have seen their profits plunge and when the Forest Service is joining efforts to fight a wave of wildfires in Southern California.

Given that Trump has threatened to withhold federal disaster aid from Los Angeles unless California officials change how the state manages its water resources, California Sen. Adam Schiff asked Rollins if she would commit to equal treatment from the Forest Service.

“Are you committed to employing the same emergency resources to fight wildfires in blue states as would be deployed to fight wildfires in red states?” Schiff asked.

Rollins responded that she would not support discrimination against any state.

“Obviously, but it bears saying since you asked, 100% yes,” Rollins said. “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.”

Rollins, 52, is a lawyer from Texas who served as domestic policy chief during Trump's first term and is now the president and CEO of the American First Policy Institute, which has helped map out plans for the second Trump administration. She graduated from Texas A&M with an undergraduate degree in agricultural development and then earned her law degree at the University of Texas.

Schiff and other Democrats on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee also asked Rollins about Trump's plans for mass deportations of people in the country illegally. They noted that a high percentage of those who harvest produce and work at dairies could be abruptly deported, causing a giant labor shortage.

Rollins said she supported Trump’s agenda but acknowledged it could be difficult for U.S. farmers.

“The president’s vision of a secure border and a mass deportation at a scale that matters is something I support,” Rollins said.

Even as she supported the president's planned actions, Rollins said she would support efforts to recruit more workers, such as making temporary immigrant farm worker programs more effective.

“That is my commitment, is to help President Trump deploy his agenda in an effective way while at the same time defending, if confirmed as secretary of agriculture, our farmers and ranchers across this country," she said.

Republicans as well as Democrats raised the issue of tariffs, which Trump says he will impose to encourage foreign investors to bring manufacturing to the U.S. and to force other countries to make policy changes.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, said farmers and ranchers see little prospect for improving their economic condition other than expanding exports. Bennet implored Rollins to make the case to Trump that higher tariffs would devastate efforts to increase exports.

Rollins said she would always speak up for the needs of farmers and ranchers.

“My role is to defend, to honor, to elevate our entire agriculture community in the Oval Office around the table, through the interagency process and to ensure that every decision that is made in the coming four years has that front of mind as those decisions are being made,” Rollins said.

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