On November 5, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a hearing to consider the “Nomination of Glen Smith to serve as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development”. In his testimony, Mr. Smith outlined what he considers three core priorities for Rural Development, if confirmed: expanding rural broadband, improving rural housing, and advancing value-added agriculture.
Throughout the hearing, senators from both parties underscored the urgency of improving Rural Development programs to better support rural communities, drawing significant attention to the need for broadband, biobased and biomass market development, and rural hospital stability. Senators diverged on broadband strategy, with Republicans calling for consolidation and efficiency across federal broadband programs while Democrats emphasized the need for sustained federal investment. By contrast, members showed broad bipartisan support for expanding biobased and biomass markets, and for bolstering rural hospital stability through strengthened Rural Development loan, grant, and technical assistance programs. A full summary of the hearing is available here.
That same day, President Donald Trump nominated Stevan Pearce to be director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management. If confirmed, Mr. Pearce will oversee numerous national monuments and wilderness areas on land the bureau manages, and the oil and gas leasing program for all federal lands. Mr. Pearce is a former Republican member of Congress (2003-2009 and 2011-2019). As a member of Congress, Pearce opposed the use of the Antiquities Act to create large national monuments, including the BLM-managed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. He called large monuments an “abuse” of the act and supported a bill in 2017 that would have required congressional consent for their creation.
For additional information, contact RCRC Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Mary-Ann Warmerdam.