April 9, 2025 – During a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing to consider Stephen Vaden for the number-two position at the USDA today, senators focused on trade and other issues important in their districts, while largely ignoring ongoing staff layoffs and funding freezes.
Vaden, who served as the top lawyer for the USDA during Trump’s first term and is currently a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade, is being considered for the role of deputy secretary, reporting to the Secretary of Agriculture, and tasked with running daily operations.
Previously, Vaden provided the legal justification for the agency’s controversial decision to move the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Research Service out of Washington, D.C. to Kansas City, Missouri. At the start of the hearing, Chairman John Boozman (R-Arkansas) referenced that experience and asked whether Vaden anticipates “any future reorganizations that might be necessary to maximize the efficiency of the department?”
Vaden skipped answering that question and instead emphasized his commitment to communicating with the committee. Since Trump took office, the USDA has laid off thousands of employees and recently offered another opportunity for staff to resign. Other outlets have reported that more significant layoffs and reorganizations are coming “within weeks.” During that last stint at the USDA, Politico reported that Vaden’s leadership led to plummeting morale.
When ranking member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) asked Vaden about a list of 15 programs the USDA provided that have been affected by the agency’s funding freeze, he also emphasized communication. “We’ll get you the information that you need.”
For most of the hearing, though, senators on both sides of the aisle brought up how tariffs might impact farmers and how to tackle trade deficits. Vaden pointed to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins’ six trade missions planned so far and said the agency should also tackle “phony” health and sanitary concerns that countries use to keep American products out. China recently stopped imports of some American chicken, for example, because they said the meat contained a banned antibiotic.
“What I hope to bring, should I be confirmed as deputy secretary of the Department of Agriculture, is a constant reminder to the president’s trade team that we need to be on offense when it comes to American agriculture,” Vaden said. “Because ultimately what we’re going to be judged on is how many new markets we have opened up for our producers where they could not previously sell.”
Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia), who signed onto a letter from the Congressional Black Caucus that claims Vaden’s record “reflects a pattern of undermining civil rights protections,” voiced the importance of outreach efforts to ensure underserved farmers can equitably participate in the USDA’s programs and the department’s history of discrimination against Black farmers. “Do you agree that USDA has a well-documented record of racial discrimination against minority farmers?” he asked.
“I do agree that there are court rulings that have found that, yes, Senator,” Vaden replied.
Since Rollins took over at the USDA, she has celebrated the cancellation of grant contracts to groups that highlight helping Black and other underserved farmers to align with President Trump’s executive order to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Vaden responded positively to a question from Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) about making sure the “guardrails are loose enough” for farmers to access pesticides, sharing that his family has long been involved in no-till row crop farming.
“That only becomes possible if you have in your tool kit as a farmer the amazing chemicals that are provided in order to clear the land so that you can plant. And so if you take those chemicals away, what you are doing is you are taking a tool out of the tool kit of the farmer,” he said.
While the USDA does not regulate pesticides, he said he looks forward to working with agencies that do, like the EPA, on the issue. Tyler Clarkson’s nomination to take the top lawyer job Vaden previously held, running the Office of General Counsel, was also considered during the hearing. (Link to this post.)
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