Brooke Rollins was sworn in as the United States’ Secretary of Agriculture on Thursday following a 72 to 28 confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate.
“It is the honour of a lifetime to serve as the nation’s thirty-third Secretary of Agriculture — and a privilege beyond description to have the trust of President Donald J. Trump, and the opportunity to advance his agenda. I am thrilled to lead the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and to serve the people of this country,” said Rollins, in a statement distributed to media by the USDA. “Every day, I will fight for American farmers, ranchers, and the agriculture community. Together, we have an historic opportunity to revitalize rural America and to ensure that U.S. agriculture remains the best in the world for generations to come.”
Rollins, who calls Fort Worth, Texas home, most recently served as the founder and CEO of the America First Policy Institute. She served as the director of the Domestic Policy Council and Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives in the first Trump administration.
She holds a degree in agricultural development from Texas A&M University, where she was the first female elected student body president. After earning a law degree at the University of Texas, she was Texas Governor Rick Perry’s policy director and then led the Texas Public Policy Foundation for 15 years, setting a model for the later creation of the America First Policy Institute.
A much more controversial pick, Robert F Kennedy Jr was also sworn in to Trump’s new cabinet on Thursday as Health and Human Services Secretary.
His confirmation vote, 52-48 in favour, was much closer than Rollins’. No Democrats backed RFK, while Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to vote against his appointment.
Kennedy is now in charge of overseeing the U.S. health industry, including policies around food safety, public health, and pharmaceuticals. The agencies under Kennedy’s purview include the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
