A shuffle of leadership responsibilities within the U.S. Senate will see its influential agriculture, nutrition and forestry committee led by its first-ever chairwoman.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) was named Wednesday as the first female and first Arkansas senator to chair the ag committee in its 184-year history.
Lincoln replaces Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who in turn has been named to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy as chairman of the Senate’s health, education, labour and pensions committee.
Illinois-based ag magazine Farm Futures noted on its website Wednesday that Lincoln’s appointment would make for a “regional shift” in leadership on the committee.
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Lincoln and ranking Republican committee member Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, both coming from a southern U.S. ag background, would lead from a “different policy perspective,” the magazine suggested.
Lincoln, a senator since 1998, comes from a seventh-generation farm family in Arkansas and has been on the Senate ag committee since early 1999. She previously sat on the House of Representatives’ ag committee from 1993 to 1995.
Lincoln has also chaired the Senate subcommittee on rural revitalization, conservation, forestry and credit, during the current U.S. Congress.
The Senate ag committee “has been a committee of significant importance to my constituents and our state’s economy,” Lincoln said in a release Wednesday.
“The committee’s responsibilities encompass a number of issues that are critical to Americans, particularly those living in rural areas. With such priorities as child nutrition reauthorization, farm bill implementation, and regulation of commodities, the committee has a full plate.”
The Missouri-based National Corn Growers Association noted in a separate release Wednesday that Lincoln “played a strong leadership role during the debate on the 2008 farm bill” and has been “an advocate of investments in renewable energy, conservation and farm programs that benefit production agriculture and rural America.”
“We’re grateful for the senator’s previous work for corn farmers and we look forward to working with her in the future on issues important to our members,” NCGA president Bob Dickey said in the release.
