Senate Agriculture Committee
The new roster for the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee was announced January 27. As expected, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) takes over the reins as Chair, and Pat Roberts (R-KS) replaces Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) as the Ranking Member.
New to the Committee are two GOP first term GOP Senators — John Boozeman of Arkansas and John Hoeven of North Dakota. North Dakota now joins Iowa and Nebraska in having two members on the Committee, one on each side of the aisle. Boozeman, an optometrist, served in the House from 2002-2010 and defeated former Agriculture Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln in last November’s election. Hoeven, a banker, was governor of North Dakota for a decade and won the seat vacated by retiring Senator Byron Dorgan.
The full roster is as follows:
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chair
- Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Robert Casey (D-PA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ranking Member
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Richard Lugar (R-IN)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- John Boozman (R-AR)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- John Thune (R-SD)
- John Hoeven (R-ND)
Appropriations Committee
New Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee were also named on January 27. Joining the Committee are six new freshmen: Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Dan Coats (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and John Hoeven (R-ND). Assuming the three Senators that remain in the Senate from last Session’s Agricultural Subcommittee remain on that Subcommittee (Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Susan Collins of Maine), it is highly likely that two of the new six full committee members will become new agriculture appropriators. Subcommittee assignments are expected to be announced soon.