During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) questioned Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins about frozen USDA funds.
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00:00Rollins to start that process. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Welcome,
00:06Secretary Rollins. Thank you. It is great to see you here today. When we first met,
00:13we discussed PFAS. Those are the toxic class of forever chemicals that are being found
00:22in our soils, water, animal feed, crops, and livestock. In Maine, the presence of
00:29PFAS in wastewater sludge that was spread decades ago as a fertilizer is preventing some of our
00:40family farmers from being able to sell their products, causing them significant financial
00:47harm. To support these affected farmers and to come up with solutions, the University of Maine
00:56is undertaking research on the presence of PFAS in agricultural land. To build upon this work,
01:05I secured $17 million in fiscal year 2024 for the ARS and the University of Maine to establish a new
01:16center of excellence for PFAS solutions. And the whole purpose is to help address these very serious
01:25PFAS contamination in agriculture. Madam Secretary, will you continue to support the partnership between
01:38ARS and the University of Maine in establishing this research center to help our farmers? And I would
01:48note that the research that's being done there won't just help the farmers in Maine, but across the nation.
01:55Across the country. Well, Madam Chairman, as we discussed, this is an issue that is very close to my
02:01family's heart. My mom, Helen Kerwin, is 70, almost 78. She is the youngest elected freshman to the Texas
02:10House of Representatives in Texas history. And her number one issue is PFAS. And she decided to run for
02:18a lot of reasons. But one of those was, I believe it was the New York Times did an expose or a big story,
02:24if you will, on a farm in Johnson County, Texas, which is close to where we grew up and where my mom still
02:31lives, rural Texas. And she was so stunned by what had happened to these farmers, and specifically
02:40through the PFAS contamination. It had destroyed their lives. And so she became very, very passionate
02:49about this particular issue. She is crushing it in her first session in the Texas legislature right
02:57now. And in fact, her very first bill that she will get a hearing on is her PFAS bill, and it will be
03:03tomorrow in Austin. So I've been hearing a lot about this at the family dinner table for quite some time
03:08now. But yes, we remain committed to this research. Very proud of that $7 million grant to the Center for
03:14Excellence. And I think that at least according to my mom, who is amazing, raised my sisters and me by
03:19herself. She was a single mom. But at least according to my mom, Maine leads the way in many respects on
03:26this important issue for all of our farmers and our ranchers. And I'm excited to learn more, perhaps
03:31even come visit the Center in Maine, see the work that they're doing firsthand, and to continue to
03:36support it. So thank you for your leadership on that. Thank you so much. And in this case, listening to
03:42your mother makes all the sense in the world. All the sense in the world. I need to tell my four
03:47teenagers that. Yes. In late March, I wrote you a letter detailing my concerns about USDA's delay in
03:58releasing some program funds. I've heard from constituents who have received grant award letters
04:07from USDA in the previous administration, only to later receive letters from USDA informing them that
04:17their grant funding is frozen. Now, this is obviously very troubling to them. It creates a lot of uncertainty.
04:25And we are a state that has lost 600 farms in the past decade. And that is very troubling to me. I grew
04:38up in northern Maine. One of my first jobs was picking potatoes for a farmer. And I am aware of how
04:47how important that heritage is to our state and to our food supply. So we've seen a situation where
04:56farmers, landowners, loggers, natural resource businesses that have applied for USDA loans still have no
05:07clarity on what decisions will be made. And the timing of this funding is absolutely critical,
05:16because as you know, well, agricultural producers are making purchases now for this year's crops
05:24and processing facilities need to order equipment for the summer and the fall harvest. Local farm
05:33economies are fragile and timing is really important. So I know and appreciate that you've made some
05:44significant strides in releasing program funding over the past few weeks. Could you provide the subcommittee
05:53with an update on federal funding at USDA that remains frozen and a timeline for when you plan to finish your
06:04reviews? I will and I take to heart so sincerely everything you've said. And I know many of you have reached out during
06:12this process of frozen funds from both sides of the aisle. And my goal is to respond immediately. Sometimes
06:18it's at midnight, sometimes it's at 5am. But my goal is always to respond and to be available. I have an amazing
06:25team. Kaylee Bowler is our chief of staff. She's here, Jen Teller and a few others that you all probably know well. And we are
06:31working around the clock going line by line by line. We're down to the final 5 billion out of I believe almost 20 billion of
06:39frozen funds. But $5 billion is a lot of money. And when you think about that in terms of, you know, grant or contract
06:46and moving that out quickly, we're very hopeful to keep moving through that very, very quickly and have
06:53that done very soon. But what I will say, and you all know this that have worked with me, I am always
06:58available. So if there is one or a group in particular that you want us to make sure we're getting to, please just
07:05let me know. I know almost everybody here has my cell phone number, maybe not a few of you, but
07:11I'm always available. Several of these guys have it too. So just call me and just know we're doing our
07:17very, very, very best. Some of the funding that we have pulled back and then reopened, we've asked for
07:23reapplications to realign around this president's priorities, which of course, not surprisingly, is not
07:30diversity, equity and inclusion or some climate programs, but instead to reapply where the farmer
07:35would receive, farmer or rancher would receive 65% of the funding or more. That's another piece of this
07:40as well. So we again are going line by line. We're working around the clock and believe me, we are on
07:47it. But please know to always reach out if there's something specific. And I hear you.
07:51Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
07:54Appreciate it. Senator Shaheen.