WASHINGTON - The Senate Agriculture Committee next week plans to consider President Donald Trump's nomination of Sonny Perdue for agriculture secretary.
According to the committee's website , the nomination hearing will be held March 23.
Trump selected Perdue , a former Georgia governor, for the post only days before his inauguration. Perdue grew up on a farm, is a doctor of veterinary medicine and founded a grain and fertilizer business in Georgia. He also was a member of Trump’s agricultural advisory committee.
Progress on Perdue's confirmation has moved slow , possibly because of his business entanglements. Perdue said in Senate ethics disclosure forms that he would place his assets, which include part ownership of a grain merchandising company, into a blind trust. He also said he would resign his positions from the National Grain and Feed Association, the Bipartisan Policy Center Governor's Council and the Georgia Agribusiness Council.
While Perdue would be the first ag secretary to come from the southern part of the U.S. in some time, he has gained support from many farm groups and some Upper Midwest lawmakers, including Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D .
