President-Elect Joe Biden this week said he will nominate Tom Vilsack to be his Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack previously served as USDA Secretary during the Obama administration.
And at Health and Human Services, the parent of the FDA, the president-elect has tapped Xavier Becerra, currently California's attorney general. An FDA commissioner has not yet been discussed.
Vilsack headed USDA for all eight years under President Obama's administration and previously was the governor of Iowa. In September, he spoke at the annual Washington Conference of the United Fresh Produce Assn., which applauded his nomination.
"During his tenure at USDA, he worked with United Fresh on a number of issues including the prioritization of good nutrition, aid to produce farmers and the supply chain and ensuring that USDA worked with other federal agencies to harmonize their efforts to address issues relating to trade, food safety and immigration," said the association.
Becerra was a congressman representing downtown Los Angeles 1993-2017. He's facing some criticism for his progressive views and the fact that he's not a medical doctor; but others note HHS is a sprawling agency with interests in food, drugs and entitlement programs like Medicare. Becerra is a lawyer.
