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| Farmers
named to high-level jobs in Agriculture Department |
By
the Associated Press
April 4, 2001 |
WASHINGTON (AP) Farmers from Indiana and Mississippi
were nominated by the White House Tuesday for high-level jobs
in the Agriculture Department, including deputy secretary, the
agencys No. 2 post.
James Moseley, who raises grain and hogs near Clarks Hill,
Ind., was an agricultural adviser in the Environmental
Protection Agency from 1989 to 1990 and assistant secretary at
USDA for natural resources and the environment from 1990 to
1992.
As deputy secretary, Moseley would be in charge of USDAs
budgeting and day-to-day operations.
"He comes with good experience in the environmental
area," said Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.
Veneman, who is not a farmer herself, has been under pressure
from Congress to name farmers and Midwesterners to senior jobs
in the department.
Moseley farms 2,800 acres and raises 50,000 hogs a year. He
said he started the farm with no equity and a government loan.
William Hawks, who raises soybeans and grain on a 7,700-acre
farm in northern Mississippi, was named undersecretary for
marketing and regulatory affairs at USDA.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hawks will oversee the Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service, which is charged with keeping
agricultural pests and diseases out of the country, including
mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth; the Agricultural Marketing
Service, which manages commodity promotion programs and the
marketing of milk and produce; and the Grain Inspection,
Packers and Stockyards Administration, which regulates grain
and livestock trade.
The Bush administration has yet to nominate undersecretaries
at USDA to oversee food safety and environmental programs. |
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