[Glickman Chosen to Head Agriculture Dept. 29dec94 below]
The Senate confirmed Dan Glickman as the new secretary of agriculture yesterday, filling a three-month vacancy in an agency targeted for extensive budget cuts even as it prepares to negotiate a new farm bill.
The Senate voted 94 to 0 to confirm Glickman, 50, a former House member from Wichita, Kan., who was defeated for reelection last November. Glickman, who later took the oath of office, succeeded Mike Espy, who resigned at the end of 1994 because of an investigation into charges he accepted favors from agribusiness companies and used his travel privileges improperly.
Glickman's confirmation was held up for three months while investigators reviewed his credit card expenses, District parking tickets and overdrafts at the now-defunct House Bank.
Senators from the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry discussed these and other matters with Glickman during an extensive confirmation hearing March 21. The panel confirmed him unanimously, setting the stage for yesterday's vote.
Glickman will take over USDA just as debate on a new farm bill begins in earnest. The bill, produced every five years, describes the crop subsidy, research, trade, nutrition and environmental programs that affect the lives of the nation's 2 million farmers.
The House has passed legislation to cut an estimated $20 billion in USDA spending by limiting eligibility for food stamps, but money – and how to save it – remains at the center of the farm bill debate.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) has said agriculture spending may have to shrink $35 billion to $50 billion over the next five years. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) has proposed $15 billion in savings through gradual reduction of crop subsidy levels and elimination of an export subsidy program.
Attempts to engage the Clinton administration in a debate about these figures have foundered so far, however, because President Clinton has proposed neither a farm bill nor guidelines on how one might be written. Glickman said a Clinton proposal should be ready by the end of April.
In the interim, Glickman stood firm on the administration's current budget proposal, which suggests $1.5 billion in agriculture cuts over five years. This, Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Minority Member Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) remarked during Glickman's confirmation hearing, is a "big, big spread" when matched up against the Domenici figures.
Glickman replied that "my fear" is that any cuts beyond $1.5 billion "will have a marked effect on land prices and farm program stability. . . . Quite frankly, I think we would be disturbing that stability if we made significant further cuts."
President Clinton yesterday named outgoing Rep. Dan Glickman as his new agriculture secretary, saying the Kansas Democrat would be "a vocal advocate of the interests of American agriculture."
Glickman, who blamed his surprise November defeat in part on the unpopularity of the president whose Cabinet he is joining, replaces Mike Espy. Espy was forced to resign in October effective Dec. 31 after revelations that he accepted such gifts as free travel and football tickets from companies regulated by his department. An independent counsel is investigating the matter.
In the Rose Garden ceremony announcing Glickman's selection, Clinton went out of his way to praise Espy, who was also in attendance. He said the "tireless" Espy had done a "superb job," accomplishing the most sweeping reorganization of the department in 50 years and managing flood relief efforts "with speed, compassion and competence."
Glickman, the president said, "will not only carry on the innovations begun by Secretary Espy but break new ground in our efforts to increase farm exports and bridge the differences between rural and urban members of Congress."
Glickman said he would be taking office at a time when budget constraints provoked questions about the utility of some farm programs, "raising questions which will cause those of us in agriculture to rethink fundamental tenets of those programs." Glickman said he welcomed the challenge, adding, "Agriculture is not and should not be immune to change."
The announcement of Glickman's selection drew praise from his fellow Kansan, incoming Senate majority leader Robert J. Dole (R). "President Clinton has made a good choice," he said. "I plan to support Dan's nomination, which I expect will sail through the Senate."
A friend of White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta, Glickman -- who had sought the job at the start of the administration – edged out Deputy Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Rominger and House Agriculture Committee Chairman E "Kika" de la Garza (D-Tex.) to replace Espy.
The 50-year-old Kansan was defeated in his bid for a 10th term from his Wichita district by a Republican state senator who had backing from the religious right and the gun lobby. Glickman opposed Clinton this fall when he voted against the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the new world trade pact. As a member of the House Agriculture Committee, he argued that farm subsidy programs should be focused on low- and middle-income farmers. He was a key architect of the 1989 drought disaster relief bill and the 1990 farm bill.
That farm bill expires next year amid some GOP suggestions that it is time to consider cutting agriculture subsidies. Glickman will also take over the department at a time of extensive cutbacks in which staff will be reduced by 11,000 and 1,274 field offices will be consolidated or closed in the next three years.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), who will oversee Glickman's confirmation hearings, said Glickman "has been an important legislator with an impressive record in the production of farm bills" but held off saying whether he favored the selection.
Lugar said it was "astonishing to hear the Clinton administration taking credit" for restructuring the Agriculture Department as part of its reinventing government initiative. "They've been pushed and shoved and pawed all the way," he said.
Sworn in: March 30, 1995
Succeeded: Mike Espy (1993-94)
Previous occupation: U.S. congressman (D-Kan.-4), 1977-95, worked on farm bills in 1977, 1981, 1985 and 1990; President, Wichita School Board, 1973-76; partner, law firm of Sargent, Klenda and Glickman; trial attorney for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 1969-70.
Education: University of Michigan (B.A. in history); The George Washington University School of Law
Spouse: Rhoda Yura
Children: Two children: Jon, 27, and Amy, 24
Of note: Glickman, the country's 26th secretary of Agriculture, focused primarily on agriculture issues during his tenure in Congress, but he also chaired the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. There he held open hearings to bring the intelligence community's post-Cold War activities to light and began a committee investigation into the Aldrich Ames espionage case.
USDA Website
Dan Glickman was sworn in as the 26th Secretary of Agriculture on March 30, 1995. He has had one of the longest tenures of any Agriculture Secretary in modern history, after serving from 1977 to 1995 as a Congressman from Kansas' 4th District, which includes the Wichita area. Mr. Glickman has led the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), with its nearly 100,000 employees, during a time of tremendous challenge and transition for America's farming and rural communities.
Glickman's tenure has been marked by a turbulent farm economy, with commodity prices and agricultural exports first reaching record highs, then plunging to historic lows. Glickman has been a tireless advocate for farmers and ranchers, promoting their economic and social interests during difficult times. He has used virtually every tool at his disposal to help farmers cope with crisis conditions -- including direct cash assistance, extensive international food aid, weather-related disaster declarations, increased purchases for federal food programs, crop insurance discounts, export credits and more.
The natural resources functions of USDA comprise the largest portion of the Department's operations, with the U.S. Forest Service employing approximately 30,000 people who manage nearly 200 million acres of public lands. With that mandate, Glickman has pursued a balanced approach to federal land management, making sure that environmental and sustainability concerns are critical parts of federal forestry policy. He is leading the President's effort to protect more than 40 million acres of precious natural forest land from road-building. And he has worked to increase the Department's commitment to private lands conservation all over the United States.
Glickman also believes that a strong farm economy requires a strong rural economy. So he has worked hard to help build vibrant, economically diversified rural communities, with adequate housing, water and sewer systems, telephone and electric utilities, Internet access and all the tools necessary to stay competitive in a high-tech, information age.
USDA employs nearly 10,000 people around the country in food safety functions. And under Glickman, the Department has replaced antiquated food safety regulations with a new science-based meat and poultry inspection system that has already reduced outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.
Glickman has been a strong voice on the issue of genetically modified foods. He has been an advocate of biotechnology and its potential to increase agricultural productivity, feed hungry people and preserve our natural resources. At the same time, he has taken steps to ensure that this new technology is governed by a thorough, untainted regulatory approval process that is based on sound science.
Under Glickman's leadership, USDA has restructured and modernized its enormous, decentralized field office structure, helping cut administrative and overhead costs by about
$4 billion. He also has taken a strong, personal interest in civil rights. The Department has recently reviewed its civil rights practices for the first time and has dramatically improved its commitment to fairness and equality, in both treatment of its employees and execution of its programs. At Glickman's direction, the Department settled one of the largest civil rights class action suits filed against the U.S. Government.
Glickman has committed himself and USDA to the nation's battle against hunger and malnutrition. In addition to administering the Department's food assistance programs, he began a food recovery and gleaning effort, which urges farmers, restaurants, and all citizens to save and donate excess food, rather than throwing it away. Glickman also has launched a Community Food Security Initiative, to build anti-hunger partnerships between USDA and the private sector, faith-based groups, food banks and other grass-roots organizations.
While in Congress, Glickman served on the House Agriculture Committee, where he helped write four different farm bills. For 6 years, he was Chairman of the Subcommittee on Wheat, Soybeans, and Feed Grains, which had jurisdiction over nearly three-quarters of the USDA farm program budget. He is also the author of legislation that presaged the USDA reorganization he later presided over as Secretary.
In addition to his agricultural portfolio, Glickman was one of the leading congressional experts on aviation policy and the author of successful legislation creating product liability protection for small airplane manufacturers. As Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, he led the effort to demystify and make more publicly accessible the activities of the U.S. intelligence community, and he presided over the committee's investigation of the Aldrich Ames case. He is the author several major legislative proposals, including the law authorizing the United States Institute of Peace and several measures promoting alternative energy uses. Glickman also wrote the legislation, now law, that increases criminal penalties for the destruction of religious property.
Glickman, a native of Wichita, Kansas, began his public service as member and president of the Wichita School Board. He was a partner in the law firm of Sargent, Klenda and Glickman and served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Glickman received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his law degree from George Washington University. He has been married since 1966 to the former Rhoda Yura of Detroit. The Glickmans have two adult children, Jon and Amy.
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