00:00:00
Secretary Rollins, thank you for joining
00:00:02
me here. Can you call me Brooke? Brooke.
00:00:04
Okay. I didn't I mean, I'm wearing a
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tie. There's a degree of formality. You
00:00:08
just came from a cabinet today. I did.
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Food security is national security.
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America is the largest a exporter in the
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world. These farmers don't want all
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these checks. No one wants a handout.
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Exactly. No one wants a handout. $15
00:00:23
billion a year is spent on soda.
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Taxpayer dollars be spent on sugary
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drinks and junk food. that's making our
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kids sick? Absolutely not. Does that
00:00:33
mean we shut them down? Does that mean
00:00:35
No, of course not. Part of that was
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having 300 executive orders drafted and
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we did it all very quietly. No one
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really knew it was happening. We're not
00:00:42
here for the people to serve us like
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some monarchy. We're here to serve the
00:00:46
people. I'm here in Washington DC at the
00:00:49
US Department of Agriculture to
00:00:51
interview the 33rd Secretary of
00:00:53
Agriculture, Brooke Rollins. We just had
00:00:56
an amazing conversation talking about
00:00:57
Brook's background, the work she's doing
00:01:00
at the USDA, the impact Doge is having,
00:01:02
food stamps, the sentiment of the
00:01:05
American farmer, tariff and trade, and
00:01:07
everything in between. Really amazing
00:01:09
conversation. Thank you to Secretary
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Rollins for allowing me here today. I
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hope you'll enjoy the conversation.
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All right, besties. I think that was
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another epic discussion. People love the
00:01:20
interviews. I could hear him talk for
00:01:22
hours. Absolutely. We crush your
00:01:24
questions in a minute. We are giving
00:01:26
people ground truth data to underwrite
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your own opinion. What do you guys
00:01:29
think? That was fun. Pal.
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Congrats on your first 100 days. First
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100 days. Yesterday was the 100th day of
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President Trump and I like 70 days. But
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I'm President Trump yesterday, but today
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we celebrated together at the cabinet
00:01:44
meeting and we're about I'm going back
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over to the White House right after we
00:01:46
finish to do more celebrating. Great.
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Well, we appreciate it. The USDA is an
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incredible agency. It was founded under
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Abraham Lincoln, I believe, was
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established under Lincoln when I think I
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was talking to your staff. I think 60%
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of American uh workforce within
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agriculture at the time. That's right.
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And uh it's a really critical agency for
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American prosperity and has been really
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important for uh food security and for
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the interest of America around the world
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as a trade partner, the largest a
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exporter in the world. The agency is
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incredible in terms of the scale. 29 sub
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agencies, hundred thou over 100,000
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employees, 4,500 locations, and an over
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$200 billion Yeah. annual budget. So
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really an incredible um uh department to
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oversee. But before we get into the USDA
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and talk a little bit about some of the
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work you're doing and have been doing,
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maybe we can talk a little bit about
00:02:35
your background. Did you grow up on a
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farm? How did you get into agriculture?
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So yes, I grew up uh in a really small
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town in Texas. We uh were not farmers or
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ranchers per se in Texas. I grew up on a
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small farm. We raised animals. We bailed
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hay. But my family, my mom's side of the
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family, uh my grandmother, they had a
00:02:56
big rowcrop farm in Minnesota. So I
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spent every summer um on that farm,
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corn, wheat, soy, pretty much everything
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you could consider and think of. So that
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was my rowcrop. um which has actually
00:03:08
been very very helpful because coming
00:03:09
from Texas and being more of a cattle
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raiser and being in cattle more which is
00:03:13
what I'm in in Texas uh it's really
00:03:15
great to have sort of both sides of the
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house and and I'm very appreciative to
00:03:18
that but yes grew up in a very small
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town uh we didn't have much I was raised
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by a single mom but we did have the land
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and uh and on that land we raised our
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animals again we bled our hay I barrel
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raced every Friday night I grew up in 4
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and FFA went to Texas A&M on an
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agriculture scholarship ship uh studied
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soil science and meats and and feeds and
00:03:40
feeding and and really dove way into
00:03:43
agriculture knowing I would go to law
00:03:45
school. um I really had a heart for
00:03:48
understanding policy and the people but
00:03:51
thought I would really stay in agg um
00:03:53
for the rest of my life and obviously
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sometimes the the path diverts and
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changes but um even over the you know
00:04:00
the 20 years since I last worked 100% in
00:04:03
agriculture which was for Rick Perry
00:04:06
when he was first governor um then
00:04:08
quickly moved into all the policy but
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but I've always stayed very much in
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touch and involved in a and always
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really worked in a polic policy, but as
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part of a much broader portfolio until
00:04:19
this job. But um no, listen, the USDA is
00:04:23
the people's department. That was what
00:04:24
President Lincoln's vision was. Uh the
00:04:27
American founding had four key agencies,
00:04:30
of course, the attorney general,
00:04:32
justice, state, and defense, which was
00:04:34
war, state, you know, Department of War
00:04:35
at the time, but defense. And that was
00:04:37
really the beginning of our country were
00:04:39
those four. Interior was added a couple
00:04:41
decades later. And then agriculture that
00:04:44
was sort of the um the cadence of of uh
00:04:46
building a new government and creating
00:04:48
some sort of self-governing structure
00:04:51
that you want the power to remain with
00:04:52
the people. But certainly as America
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moved from a frontier republic into you
00:04:57
know as we know the the world's greatest
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economic superpower certainly you needed
00:05:01
some kind of of governing structure. And
00:05:03
so Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s uh
00:05:06
believed sincerely that the you know the
00:05:08
majority of Americans then were rural.
00:05:10
They were agriculture related and that
00:05:12
they needed um representation here in
00:05:14
Washington. So the people's department
00:05:16
was formed and uh this building was
00:05:19
built uh in the early 1900s 19 uh 20s
00:05:23
and uh and here we are today. Now
00:05:25
through the years as you mentioned it
00:05:27
has grown and grown and grown. I do
00:05:30
believe it became a bit of a catch-all
00:05:32
uh in some ways. You know, we we run the
00:05:34
food stamp program, uh the SNAP program,
00:05:36
the supplemental nutrition program. We
00:05:38
run the forests, of course, forest
00:05:40
services under forestry is under USDA.
00:05:43
So, that's tens of thousands of
00:05:44
firefighters as an example. Um and of
00:05:47
course, all of the farming and
00:05:48
agriculture related from rural
00:05:50
development loans to farm loans to crop
00:05:52
insurance. Uh and then and then of
00:05:55
course moving all of the economic
00:05:56
relief, etc. that sometimes is often
00:05:58
needed. I am still getting my arms
00:06:00
around, you know, two months in exactly
00:06:03
everything that that we're we're working
00:06:04
on here. But in President Trump's
00:06:07
greatest vision and in his bold
00:06:08
leadership, one of my top priorities is
00:06:11
how we realign the USDA around its
00:06:14
original purpose, which was serving the
00:06:17
people and especially the farmers and
00:06:18
ranchers. So really looking forward to
00:06:20
continuing that work. But you were in
00:06:21
the first Trump administration. I was in
00:06:23
the first Trump administration. I think
00:06:24
I was the only A major uh in the
00:06:27
building and and I was doing a lot of
00:06:28
different hats. I was working with Jared
00:06:30
Kushner um in the office of American
00:06:32
innovation uh and then was doing all the
00:06:34
strategy. So kind of the big picture you
00:06:37
know for the president and and the
00:06:39
policy especially on the domestic side
00:06:41
eventually ran the domestic policy team
00:06:43
eventually towards the end um took on
00:06:45
Kelly and Conway's team and some other
00:06:48
portfolios. So really over the course of
00:06:50
those three years in Trump 1. How did
00:06:52
you end up in Trump one? Well, that is a
00:06:54
really crazy long story. Um, I for my
00:06:59
entire policy, my heart is in public
00:07:01
policy. I have just I I first thought I
00:07:04
may end up at seminary and be a pastor
00:07:07
um a youth pastor and that was really
00:07:09
where I was felt very called uh after
00:07:12
college, but then realized that if I
00:07:15
lean into public policy and I didn't
00:07:18
know what that meant. I didn't even know
00:07:19
what a think tank was, but that I could
00:07:21
perhaps change more and help more people
00:07:25
um going that route than if I just
00:07:27
worked at a church. And so um I really
00:07:31
kind of got excited about that idea and
00:07:34
I was a big firm litigator uh for a
00:07:37
couple of years after law school. did a
00:07:39
clerkship, a federal clerkship for a
00:07:41
judge in Dallas in the northern
00:07:42
district. And then um got a call from
00:07:45
Rick Perry, also another big-time Texas
00:07:48
Aggie, a major from a from a a
00:07:51
background, a rural town, and he just
00:07:53
become governor. And in Texas, George W.
00:07:55
Bush had just become president. They had
00:07:57
the whole hanging chad. You know, when
00:07:58
they think the election integrity issues
00:08:00
are new to today, they are not new to
00:08:03
today. This goes way back. But uh Rick
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Perry became governor. He was lieutenant
00:08:06
governor. and he called me and I was
00:08:08
sitting um billing my every six minutes
00:08:11
the billable hour for this big law firm
00:08:13
in Dallas. Loved the firm, didn't love
00:08:15
the work. And he said, "Why don't you
00:08:17
come join my new team down here in
00:08:18
Austin?" I was 28 years old. I'd only
00:08:20
been out of law school for a couple of
00:08:22
years. And he made me his deputy general
00:08:24
counsel. Um sort of shocking to
00:08:27
everybody, but I'd known him. I met him
00:08:29
when I was 15 as a future farmer of
00:08:31
America. and he believed in me and and
00:08:33
so that was really how the pivot as I
00:08:36
was trying to figure out what was next.
00:08:38
I really leaned into public policy and
00:08:40
and I found in the governor's office it
00:08:42
was a great experience. I only did it
00:08:44
for two years at the very beginning of
00:08:46
his administration, Rick Perry's uh that
00:08:48
you could make such a difference. But
00:08:51
what I realized was that there was no
00:08:54
one at that moment in Texas governance
00:08:57
that was lobbying for freedom and for
00:09:00
liberty and for God and for family that
00:09:03
all of those people that would come see
00:09:04
me every day wanted something even in
00:09:06
Texas looking for a specific law or
00:09:09
wanting a little bit more taxpayer
00:09:10
money. And I was I wasn't even 30 yet.
00:09:14
So I was sort of new to all of it but I
00:09:16
was put in a pretty a pretty highly you
00:09:18
know responsible area. and it was so
00:09:21
instructive to me. So anyway, long story
00:09:23
short, I ended up um planning to sort of
00:09:26
step away from uh any sort of official
00:09:31
work. And my husband and I were ready to
00:09:33
start a family. And uh I was going to do
00:09:35
that for 20 years and then perhaps think
00:09:37
about re-entering the workforce again,
00:09:38
having no idea um what that even meant.
00:09:41
But I got a call from Wendy Graham, who
00:09:44
was then Senator Phil Graham's wife,
00:09:46
chair of this organization I had never
00:09:48
heard of, called the Texas Public Policy
00:09:50
Foundation, and only had a couple of
00:09:53
employees based in San Antonio. I was
00:09:55
the governor's policy director at the
00:09:57
time. I went from being deputy general
00:09:58
counsel to taking on all the policy for
00:10:01
Rick Perry. And she said, "Would you
00:10:03
like to come do this?" I didn't have any
00:10:04
kids at the time. And I thought, "Well,
00:10:05
you know, I could do it for a year or
00:10:07
two." And I didn't even know what a
00:10:08
think tank was. But I did know that
00:10:11
based on my experience in Rick Perry's
00:10:12
office, I'm not an academic. I'm an A
00:10:14
major from Texas A&M, but that if there
00:10:17
were significant efforts to build a
00:10:19
policy apparatus, I couldn't have
00:10:22
articulated this 20 years ago, but I can
00:10:24
now into what my instinct was. if there
00:10:27
were a
00:10:28
significant
00:10:30
policy apparatus or apparatuses I guess
00:10:33
um that were strategic and intentional
00:10:36
and that didn't have clients that
00:10:39
weren't paid to advocate for certain
00:10:41
things. We only advocated for what was
00:10:43
right that it could change everything in
00:10:45
Texas, everything. I just been the
00:10:47
policy director. I had no one telling me
00:10:50
what the right thing to do was. I just
00:10:51
had the industry and lobby in my ear.
00:10:54
And so I thought, well, yeah, let me go
00:10:56
do this Texas public policy thing for a
00:10:58
year or two and that'll be fun. And then
00:11:00
I'll really step away once my kids start
00:11:02
coming hopefully. And uh and I looked up
00:11:05
15 years later with four kids, Luke,
00:11:08
Jake, Anna, and Lily. Um I was doing the
00:11:10
flexible work before it was a thing. Uh
00:11:13
my board at TBPF was wonderful. Went
00:11:15
from two employees to about 120. Became,
00:11:17
I believe, the most effective public
00:11:19
policy organization in the country.
00:11:22
moved Texas because I had been in the
00:11:24
sausage making. So I knew wasn't again
00:11:26
was an academic which at the time most
00:11:28
think tanks were run by but I understood
00:11:31
innately how to stop bad things and how
00:11:33
to move good things and that was really
00:11:35
the bottom line and how to hire really
00:11:37
really good people. So I got a call from
00:11:40
Jared Kushner whom I had never met. I
00:11:42
had been on the president candidate
00:11:44
Donald Trump's economic team. Uh got a
00:11:47
call when he was running against Hillary
00:11:48
Clinton. would you help us just build
00:11:49
out our economic tax plan, deregulation
00:11:51
plan, etc. And I said, "Of course, but I
00:11:54
run a nonpartisan think tank." And uh
00:11:56
I'm always happy to help because
00:11:58
obviously I think we thought Donald
00:12:00
Trump was going to be more conservative
00:12:02
than Hillary, but no one really knew,
00:12:03
right? He'd been a Democrat, right, very
00:12:06
early, not very long ago. And uh and I
00:12:09
said, "But yes, if anyone calls and
00:12:11
helps, I want them to understand the
00:12:12
Texas model, what we did and cutting
00:12:15
taxes and deregulating and the job
00:12:16
growth that happened and how it helped
00:12:18
poor people the most." Going back to my
00:12:20
original idea of going to seminary and
00:12:23
um and so he won. I was on that economic
00:12:27
team. I was not interested in coming to
00:12:28
DC or the White House. I told the team
00:12:31
that. They said, "What would you like to
00:12:32
do?" You were on the team when a lot of
00:12:33
people weren't. And I said, "No, no, no.
00:12:35
I'm going to stay in Texas and help."
00:12:37
Then I got a call from um my now very
00:12:39
good friend but then at the time didn't
00:12:41
know him Jared Kushner who said whatever
00:12:44
you're doing this is about six months
00:12:45
into term year one of term one is that
00:12:48
thing y'all are doing in Texas you know
00:12:50
criminal justice reform um deregulation
00:12:52
tax cuts I mean whatever all of the
00:12:55
great things you've done that's sort of
00:12:57
can you come just talk to me about how
00:12:58
you did it and so I flew up to DC and
00:13:02
flew up again and flew up again and he
00:13:04
started saying we really need you in the
00:13:05
White House we want you to build
00:13:07
something very similar to what you built
00:13:08
in Texas, a
00:13:11
relentless, super strategic, very
00:13:13
intentional policy apparatus that um
00:13:17
could move things. And I said no and
00:13:20
then I said no again. And then I said no
00:13:22
again. And then my family and I finally
00:13:25
um said yes. And so that's how I ended
00:13:26
up in the last White House. And that
00:13:28
transitioned into this this term.
00:13:30
Obviously, you've kept in touch with the
00:13:32
president and well, it's much bigger and
00:13:34
more interesting story than that, I
00:13:36
think. So, the final year of term one, I
00:13:40
took it upon myself. I sort of anointed
00:13:42
myself as the person that would ensure
00:13:45
that when President Trump won the second
00:13:47
term, yeah. On November 3rd of 2020,
00:13:50
that we would be ready unlike we were
00:13:52
not in the first term. And so I spent
00:13:55
the year with Larry Cuddlo who ran the
00:13:57
National Economic Council, Scott um
00:13:59
Robert O'Brien who ran National Security
00:14:01
Council and I was domestic policy at
00:14:03
that point and really drove an effort to
00:14:07
put together an agenda in the teams that
00:14:10
would be ready for that second term. And
00:14:13
so when that didn't happen and you know
00:14:15
everyone else was discouraged, no one
00:14:18
would hire Trump people. Um it was a it
00:14:21
was a it was a very dark time. January
00:14:22
6th happened In November of 2020, I
00:14:26
realized that what I had been blessed to
00:14:29
build in Texas, what the Trump first
00:14:33
White House asked me to help do within
00:14:35
the West Wing, um, that that's what I
00:14:38
needed to do on the national scale.
00:14:40
Never never thinking for a second at
00:14:43
that moment that President Trump was
00:14:44
going to run again. But the whole idea
00:14:46
that we had just had four incredible
00:14:48
years, that we had a team of people in
00:14:51
the cabinet, Trump won, senior staff,
00:14:53
Trump won, that finally not only knew
00:14:55
how to talk about conservative issues,
00:14:57
but knew how to govern from a free
00:15:00
market, America first perspective. And
00:15:03
that couldn't be lost. If we lost that
00:15:05
team, if we lost that thinking, if we
00:15:08
lost that knowhow, I didn't know if we'd
00:15:10
ever get it back. And the Democrats are
00:15:12
really good. The left is really good at
00:15:14
government. We our side is really good
00:15:17
at raising families and building
00:15:18
business. And so this happens every time
00:15:21
that we're put into government. We we
00:15:24
have a team of people that have the best
00:15:25
intentions, but we lose years because we
00:15:28
don't know how to run a bureaucracy, how
00:15:30
to deconstruct it, and how to
00:15:32
reconstruct it. And so what I in the
00:15:34
time frame exactly because that's it.
00:15:36
It's the time frame. So, we launched the
00:15:38
America First Policy Institute in uh
00:15:41
quietly in early February of 21 publicly
00:15:45
in April, almost exactly four years ago.
00:15:48
Um, today in April of 21, I had nine
00:15:51
former Trump cabinet members from Trump
00:15:53
1. 50 former White House senior staff.
00:15:55
Many were volunteers at the beginning.
00:15:57
Eventually, I could raised enough money
00:15:59
to get everyone on payroll. But when the
00:16:01
president won in November, AFPI and then
00:16:03
our sister C4, we launched America First
00:16:05
Works. was a $90 million operation in
00:16:08
just a couple of years and I think
00:16:10
fundamentally transformed the landscape.
00:16:12
Part of it part of it, not all. Part of
00:16:14
it was getting ready for a second
00:16:16
America first term, whether that was
00:16:18
Donald Trump or whomever. And part of
00:16:20
that was having 300 executive orders
00:16:22
drafted, having 196 agency plans ready.
00:16:25
And we did it all very quietly. No, we
00:16:27
didn't talk about it in the press. No
00:16:29
one really knew it was happening. So
00:16:31
that then translated to seven of our
00:16:34
team are now on the cabinet. um dozens
00:16:36
and dozens and dozens are um in the
00:16:38
White House and and and along with our
00:16:40
other partners that in those dark days
00:16:43
of early 21, you know, from Steven
00:16:46
Miller um that there were just so many
00:16:48
of us that were kind of, you know, in
00:16:50
solidarity in those early days, not
00:16:52
knowing that we would be back, but if
00:16:55
given the opportunity, we would answer
00:16:56
the call again. So now you're in the
00:16:58
cabinet, you're running the Department
00:17:00
of Agriculture. It's been 70 some odd
00:17:02
days, 100 days for the president. How
00:17:04
have the first 100 days gone? What have
00:17:07
been kind of the highlights for you in
00:17:09
starting this term out? You know,
00:17:11
everyone says, "Are you exhausted?" And
00:17:14
it's a 7-day a week, 20 hours a day. And
00:17:17
for me, there are days where I'm tired
00:17:18
of me. I think I got here to DC. I was
00:17:20
in uh doing tours all day yesterday with
00:17:22
Secretary Kennedy. The day before I was
00:17:24
in Ohio, I think that's right. Yes. Um
00:17:28
two days before that I was in North
00:17:29
Dakota. Then I'm back here. It's
00:17:32
literally a 5:00 a.m. to midnight, seven
00:17:34
days a week effort, but it's just such a
00:17:37
gift. I mean, who gets to do this? And
00:17:39
at an inflection point in our country's
00:17:41
history, this is I feel like this is
00:17:44
1776 all over again. And I think about
00:17:47
never ever to compare myself to, you
00:17:49
know, the founding fathers, but those
00:17:51
guys were farmers and teachers and
00:17:54
businessmen before they declared
00:17:56
independence from the greatest power the
00:17:58
world had ever known, and that was Great
00:18:00
Britain. and the king and and so in many
00:18:02
ways I feel like our cabinet and this
00:18:05
president has God's hand and that that's
00:18:09
what we are called for as well. So while
00:18:11
certainly we're working very hard and
00:18:13
the 100 days has been extremely
00:18:15
fast-paced, I think that's why you see
00:18:17
the joy in the work is because we're
00:18:19
ready for it. Some of the secretaries in
00:18:21
the cabinet have talked about the need
00:18:23
to deconstruct, tear down. Yeah.
00:18:26
Rebuild, or in some cases completely
00:18:29
dismantle the department that they're
00:18:31
overseeing.
00:18:33
What's your kind of mandate with
00:18:35
agriculture? Is there a reform needed in
00:18:38
agriculture like others have declared
00:18:41
for their departments? Does it need to
00:18:42
be rebuilt from the ground up? Does it
00:18:44
need to be rethought or does agriculture
00:18:46
work well and in the best interest of
00:18:48
America? what's your general kind of
00:18:50
take and your general mandate on the
00:18:51
department of a yeah well and I think
00:18:54
when you say you know does agriculture
00:18:55
work well I think you mean USDA so the
00:18:59
fact that we have an agency with 100
00:19:01
plus thousand employees um the largest
00:19:04
budget item is food stamps that the SNAP
00:19:06
program uh there are so many different
00:19:09
divisions and contract I mean we are
00:19:11
just getting started we've already
00:19:12
canceled almost $6 billion a h 100,000
00:19:15
$200,000 at a time that's a significant
00:19:18
ificant amount of contracts that we're
00:19:19
cancelling. We are reducing in force to
00:19:22
make sure that we are as efficient, as
00:19:24
effective, and as flexible as possible.
00:19:27
There is no doubt that USDA absolutely
00:19:31
needs a realignment, a reconstruction,
00:19:33
and a significant reorganization. So,
00:19:36
that's what we are working through right
00:19:38
now. the idea that USDA should be, you
00:19:42
know, we've got other programs and and
00:19:43
those are important like food stamps,
00:19:45
although they need significant reform,
00:19:47
but this agency should be should be
00:19:49
about farmers and ranchers all day,
00:19:51
every day and our egg producers. And how
00:19:53
do we talking about the industry now, an
00:19:57
industry that every year we lose more
00:20:00
family farms, every year things get
00:20:03
outsourced to other countries including
00:20:05
China and Brazil. Every year it gets
00:20:08
harder and harder for most of our
00:20:11
farmers to make a living where they can
00:20:13
support their family, pass their fourth,
00:20:15
fifth, and sixth generation farmer ranch
00:20:17
on to the next their sons or daughters.
00:20:20
It's getting harder and harder. It's
00:20:22
also getting harder and harder for new
00:20:24
Americans, men or women, to get into the
00:20:26
business of farming. It's almost
00:20:28
impossible. there's not enough, you
00:20:30
know, opportunity for capital to inject,
00:20:33
to buy a new tractor, to buy the land,
00:20:34
to figure out how to how to become, you
00:20:36
know, part of this great historical
00:20:38
legacy profession in American history.
00:20:41
So, we've got a lot of things a here at
00:20:43
the department we need to really really
00:20:45
be refocused on and we are, but also
00:20:48
there's some massive policy questions
00:20:51
that we've got to think through. And
00:20:52
then the the kind of the final big
00:20:54
priority is these farmers don't want all
00:20:56
these checks. I mean, they they take
00:20:58
them. It's the way they stay in the
00:21:00
black and the way they keep farming.
00:21:01
It's a national security issue because
00:21:03
we lose more farms. We buy more food
00:21:05
from overseas. That's not good for the
00:21:07
country for a lot of reasons. But at the
00:21:10
same time, it they would like to be able
00:21:13
to sell their product at a profit and
00:21:15
not have to worry about the government,
00:21:17
right? You know, at the end of the day.
00:21:18
So, these are all big policy questions
00:21:19
that hopefully we expand markets. The
00:21:22
president's realigning the entire world
00:21:23
economy right now, putting America
00:21:25
first. All of those things combined, I
00:21:28
believe, will lead us into a new era of
00:21:30
prosperity where we can hopefully solve
00:21:32
for most of that. I think they're all
00:21:33
really good targets. Um, obviously
00:21:36
tactically challenging, but can we start
00:21:38
with SNAP real quick? I just because
00:21:39
it's 70% of your budget. It is $123
00:21:42
billion a year. So, just to create some
00:21:44
context, 13% of Americans are on the
00:21:47
food stamp, the SNAP program at $123
00:21:50
billion a year. That's roughly, call it
00:21:53
2% of America's federal budget is going
00:21:57
towards the food stamp program. And one
00:22:00
key kind of policy point that's come up
00:22:03
lately is that roughly 10% or 15 billion
00:22:07
a year is spent on soda. Yeah. And 75%
00:22:11
of the population on SNAP are clinically
00:22:14
obese. Yes. And there's a real health
00:22:16
concern about the SNAP program
00:22:20
continuing to fuel a health crisis in
00:22:23
America. What What have you and in
00:22:25
partnership with Senator H sorry with
00:22:28
Secretary Kennedy talked about with
00:22:30
regards to addressing the health
00:22:32
challenges that arise from the way the
00:22:34
SNAP program operates today. Yeah,
00:22:36
that's been a pretty big priority of
00:22:37
ours. And uh within the first hour of
00:22:40
being sworn in on February 13th, uh 50
00:22:42
letters went out to all 50 governors in
00:22:45
the country. And in those letters, we
00:22:47
talked about SNAP and innovation and
00:22:49
send me your waiverss because the way
00:22:51
the program works, it moves through the
00:22:53
states. And so, and I love that anyway,
00:22:55
like why would the federal government be
00:22:57
telling everyone what to do? We want in
00:22:59
the founders best vision of the 10th
00:23:01
amendment to allow the states to to
00:23:04
build those programs. But but within
00:23:06
that was why are taxpayer dollars why
00:23:10
are taxpayer dollars billions of
00:23:12
taxpayer dollars being spent on sugary
00:23:15
drinks and junk food to go into our
00:23:17
supplemental nutrition program for our
00:23:20
food food insecure populations. you
00:23:23
know, our lower um income populations
00:23:26
when to your point, the backside is an
00:23:29
obesity and chronic disease epidemic
00:23:31
unlike any developed country in the
00:23:34
history of the world has ever seen. 74%
00:23:39
of our adolescence, our teenagers would
00:23:42
not pass the military readiness test of
00:23:44
our United States military right now
00:23:46
today. 75%. So again, talk about
00:23:49
national security, talk about all of the
00:23:51
things. This is a massive massive
00:23:55
challenge facing America and in the
00:23:57
first administration and you know health
00:23:59
health care was under my portfolio in
00:24:01
domestic policy as conservatives we've
00:24:04
long talked about how do we make America
00:24:06
healthy again but but very much from a
00:24:09
numbers perspective right the the cost
00:24:11
to the health care system at the back
00:24:13
end of this it's not just the taxpayers
00:24:15
funding it at the front end with the
00:24:16
junk food and the sugary drinks and the
00:24:19
the diabetes I mean just it's it's it's
00:24:22
really stunning what's happened just in
00:24:24
the last couple of decades. But then on
00:24:25
the back end, the cost to our health
00:24:27
care system and treating those chronic
00:24:29
diseases is going to bankrupt our
00:24:31
country. It's almost bankrupting all the
00:24:32
states right now through Medicaid. So,
00:24:34
how do we solve for that? And you know,
00:24:36
enter Bobby Kennedy. And Bobby and I
00:24:40
don't agree on everything, but we do
00:24:41
agree on most things. And the
00:24:43
opportunity I was just with him
00:24:45
yesterday touring some farms and talking
00:24:47
about nutrition and agriculture all day.
00:24:50
the opportunity for the agriculture lead
00:24:52
and the health lead to work daily
00:24:56
handinand to solve this together. You
00:24:59
can't solve this through government
00:25:00
regulation. You just can't. But you
00:25:02
solve it through nutrition, through
00:25:04
empowering your farmers, through getting
00:25:06
good food into these programs versus the
00:25:08
ultrarocessed, etc., etc. We've all
00:25:09
heard Bobby use these points and he
00:25:11
couldn't be more right. And
00:25:13
listen, it's a it's again talk about
00:25:16
realigning the world economy with the
00:25:17
president's vision of tariffs. It's also
00:25:20
realigning how we look at food, how we
00:25:23
as a federal government, to your point
00:25:25
on SNAP and other food programs, we have
00:25:27
13 nutrition programs. Listen to this
00:25:30
number. This is going to astound you. In
00:25:32
America today, through USDA, this is not
00:25:36
all the other agencies. This is just
00:25:37
here at USDA. We spend
00:25:41
$370 million a day on nutrition
00:25:45
programs. So, not just SNAP, but food
00:25:47
banks and all of the other ones. That's
00:25:48
just USDA.
00:25:50
That is a stunning number. We've got to
00:25:54
do better. And um and so that's a big
00:25:56
part of it. So, Secretary Kennedy and I
00:25:59
are on this. We are so aligned. We've
00:26:01
got the dietary guidelines we're doing
00:26:03
right now. What shows up in DC as you
00:26:05
guys try and make this move because
00:26:07
there's a lot of money to That's just
00:26:09
just to paint the picture. About a
00:26:11
quarter of a percent of federal spending
00:26:13
is going towards buying soda. Yeah.
00:26:15
Okay.
00:26:17
interest.
00:26:28
What is what happens as you guys try and
00:26:30
make these sorts of reforms? Who shows
00:26:32
up and what do they try and do? Well, I
00:26:34
I I will I will talk about it. I I will
00:26:36
also say that those that represent those
00:26:40
industries, they are they are good
00:26:42
people who are raising their families
00:26:45
and I do believe, you know, their
00:26:47
talking point is freedom. Why should
00:26:50
someone at the bottom of the
00:26:51
socioeconomic level ladder not be able
00:26:53
to buy the same things you and I could
00:26:55
buy? Of course, my answer is, well,
00:26:56
we're not using taxpayer dollars, so
00:26:58
that's a big difference. And we're not
00:27:00
paying for it on the back end. But I but
00:27:02
I understand I understand where they
00:27:04
would, you know, potentially be coming
00:27:06
from, but the amount um of money that is
00:27:10
at stake is reflected in the amount of
00:27:13
lobbyists
00:27:15
um that are out and about and um and
00:27:18
certainly
00:27:20
um very much a part of the Washington DC
00:27:23
establishment, but it goes directly to
00:27:26
why as difficult and as challenging as
00:27:30
these policy issues are for All of us in
00:27:31
President Trump's cabinet reflecting
00:27:33
today on the 100th day celebration. It's
00:27:36
also so different because none of us are
00:27:39
of Washington. That was true in the
00:27:41
first term and that's why I felt so
00:27:43
freed. I could I could just do what was
00:27:45
right. He just said go do what's right.
00:27:47
But in the first term, we didn't really
00:27:49
know yet how to do it, what we were
00:27:52
doing, and who was on our side. That
00:27:54
four-year pause in between term one and
00:27:57
term two, it was the greatest gift. I
00:28:00
mean, not only could we plan, but we
00:28:02
also fully understood who was in it to
00:28:05
save the country, what it was that we
00:28:07
needed to do to get this done. And for
00:28:09
me, this is so black and white. And I've
00:28:11
told everyone this. I don't need to
00:28:13
listen and have 57 meetings with
00:28:15
lobbyists representing the industry.
00:28:18
This is black and white. Taxpayer
00:28:21
dollars be spent on sugary drinks and
00:28:24
junk food that's making our kids sick?
00:28:27
Absolutely not. Does that mean we shut
00:28:29
them down? Does that mean? No, of course
00:28:31
not. But it just means we realign and we
00:28:34
spend the dollars where they need to be
00:28:35
spent. We reform and hopefully we make
00:28:37
America healthy again. I think this is
00:28:39
one of the most important points about
00:28:41
this administration is without having
00:28:43
all the political insiders in the
00:28:44
administration, there's no political
00:28:46
leverage that can be applied and you can
00:28:49
have a true objective first principles
00:28:51
point of view on policy which seems to
00:28:54
not have been the case for you know a
00:28:56
very long time in the United States.
00:28:58
Going back to the point about the
00:28:59
founding fathers and that era of
00:29:01
America, these were folks who ran farms,
00:29:03
who ran businesses. They came and
00:29:05
provided their time as civil servants
00:29:08
for a period and then they left and went
00:29:10
back to private service. That's right.
00:29:12
And that government did not have the
00:29:14
sort of political careermanship that I
00:29:17
think allows lobbying and lobbyists to
00:29:19
have the leverage that they have. That's
00:29:21
right. In government today. Um that's
00:29:23
exactly right. On both on both sides.
00:29:25
This is I'm not I'm not it's not a party
00:29:28
thing. It's not it's it's just it is an
00:29:31
entire industry that has been built
00:29:33
around this is the problem when the
00:29:35
government gets too big right I mean
00:29:37
this is the this is world history Greece
00:29:40
Rome Spain France great every great
00:29:45
world powerland has buckled under the
00:29:48
weight of a government that hands out
00:29:50
the large s right that that everyone's
00:29:52
got their hand in the pot and they
00:29:54
buckle and that's how they lose their
00:29:56
place in the world right And that is
00:29:58
what listen I sincerely believe that
00:30:00
without Donald Trump coming down that
00:30:02
escalator and I listen there were 17
00:30:04
guys and one girl I think running that
00:30:07
you know in 15 when he did that I was
00:30:09
not the smart one that said oh there's
00:30:11
the the game changer that that's him I
00:30:13
was like oh I love that person and I've
00:30:15
known him forever and they're going to
00:30:17
be so great it's not going to be Donald
00:30:18
Trump but but at that moment in American
00:30:21
history without that human being who is
00:30:25
literally willing to swing for the kit
00:30:27
fences every single day, a 100 times a
00:30:30
day for the American people who owes no
00:30:32
lobbyist not one thing. We were all
00:30:35
hired with the idea that we owe not
00:30:38
industry, not lobbyist one thing. Now,
00:30:40
we need to listen to their concerns, but
00:30:42
every day, all day, we're called to do
00:30:43
what's right. And I don't know that
00:30:45
that's ever happened, at least in our in
00:30:47
my lifetime, in governance, in federal
00:30:49
governance. So, I I want to talk about
00:30:51
the irony of running the USDA with your
00:30:53
policy background. This is an an
00:30:56
organization that administers programs
00:30:58
like SNAP. Yes. The federal crop
00:31:00
insurance program, the direct payments
00:31:02
program to farmers, commodity price
00:31:04
support where the federal government,
00:31:05
the USDA is buying commodities to keep
00:31:07
prices high. And coming from a free
00:31:11
market background, coming from a
00:31:12
maximizing liberties background, small
00:31:14
government background, wasteful
00:31:16
government spending needs to be
00:31:17
eliminated background. How do you
00:31:19
reconcile the irony of running this
00:31:21
department and how do you think about
00:31:23
where you want to take this department
00:31:24
with that background over time? Yeah,
00:31:26
it's a great this is you're the first
00:31:28
person to really dig down on this that
00:31:29
I've talked to since I took the job and
00:31:31
it's ex it's an extremely insightful and
00:31:34
thoughtful question um that you raised
00:31:36
because that's 100% true. My entire
00:31:40
background is how to get government out
00:31:42
of people's lives and how to get
00:31:44
government quote handouts out of um p
00:31:47
the private sector and how do we you
00:31:50
know downsize significantly everything
00:31:52
that that the government stands for and
00:31:55
how do we let the markets work. Um I
00:31:57
think two things. First, I have become
00:32:00
an absolute avid believer in President
00:32:04
Trump's vision on putting America first.
00:32:08
Um, for years, you know, I was, well,
00:32:10
that the cheaper goods from China are
00:32:11
good for everybody, and and they allow
00:32:13
those at the bottom of the economic
00:32:15
ladder to have a better quality of life,
00:32:16
and this is the market at work. Now that
00:32:19
I've seen it in the first term, but
00:32:21
especially as the agriculture secretary,
00:32:24
realizing how poorly our products are
00:32:27
treated on the world stage, the tariff,
00:32:30
it just is, it's stunning to me that we
00:32:32
let this go on for so long. the way
00:32:35
Argentina treats our beef, the way China
00:32:37
treats the way the way Brazil treats our
00:32:40
corn. I mean, the way the UK treats our
00:32:41
pork, and that's just in my world. I
00:32:43
haven't even really studied the
00:32:44
automakers and others. There is no doubt
00:32:47
that that realignment has to happen for
00:32:49
America to continue to thrive and lead
00:32:51
on the world stage for another 250
00:32:54
years. That's the first thing. So, so
00:32:56
really realigning my thinking after deep
00:32:59
study and deep thought in his approach
00:33:02
of America first, not free markets for
00:33:05
the sake of free markets, but fair
00:33:06
markets for the sake of America. Get
00:33:08
parody first, right? With the goal of
00:33:10
freer markets eventually. The second
00:33:12
thing I will say and more on the USDA
00:33:14
side
00:33:15
is food security is national security.
00:33:20
We have already lost tens of thousands
00:33:22
of family farms in the last decade. If
00:33:26
we continue on that trajectory, America
00:33:29
will not be able to feed oursel. And the
00:33:32
minute you become unable to feed
00:33:34
yourself is the minute you lose all
00:33:36
power on the world stage. The minute you
00:33:39
have to rely on China or Brazil or
00:33:41
Argentina to feed your people, you're
00:33:43
done. And what has happened over the
00:33:46
last number of years is China's been
00:33:48
buying up a lot of our farmland in
00:33:50
America. Um, a lot of our major meat
00:33:53
packers, etc. are now owned by foreign
00:33:55
ownership. And, you know, it's not all
00:33:58
I'm not going to cast dispersions on
00:33:59
everybody, but at the end of the day, we
00:34:02
have to make sure that our agriculture
00:34:04
industry is here in this country, that
00:34:06
we are feeding ourselves, and that we're
00:34:08
relying on ourselves. And so all of the
00:34:10
programs that you just outlined are part
00:34:12
of that effort. We lose our farmers and
00:34:15
our ranchers. We lose America. Not just
00:34:17
the the diligence and the hard work and
00:34:20
the discipline and what that um
00:34:22
righteous I believe the most righteous
00:34:23
of all professions means. The beginning
00:34:25
of our country was fought by farmers.
00:34:28
But also we lose it from a national
00:34:31
security perspective. And when that
00:34:33
happens, we lose everything. Let's talk
00:34:36
about farming and the farmer. Today,
00:34:37
there's 2 million Americans that work
00:34:40
directly in agriculture across, I
00:34:43
believe, 1.8 million legal farms in the
00:34:46
United States. China historically has
00:34:48
bought $ 36 billion a year of American
00:34:51
agricultural product. America is the
00:34:53
largest a exporter in the world. So, we
00:34:55
our our farmers are deeply dependent on
00:34:58
trade. That's right. And um in
00:35:01
California today, farmers have declared
00:35:04
there's a 20% labor shortage. Meanwhile,
00:35:06
there's a massive effort to address
00:35:09
illegal immigration in the United
00:35:11
States. Um, and I want to just hear like
00:35:14
what's your view on the ground? You
00:35:16
visited, I think you said, 15 states
00:35:18
since you've been in office. Hundreds of
00:35:19
farmers. Hundreds of farmers. What's the
00:35:21
state of mind of the American farmer
00:35:22
today? What are they feeling? What are
00:35:24
they worried about? What are you
00:35:26
hearing? The first uh three things on
00:35:28
that. The first is that they are almost
00:35:31
to a farmer. They are so supportive of
00:35:34
President Trump even understanding that
00:35:37
this current again trade
00:35:41
renegotiation. It hurts and and they
00:35:44
they they're not going to be able to
00:35:45
survive that long, but they know that
00:35:47
the president has their back. So that
00:35:49
that's been really encouraging to me.
00:35:52
Now, I have made a huge effort to get
00:35:54
out into the country to meet the farmers
00:35:56
to continue to shake hands and say,
00:35:57
"We're with you." But in the long run,
00:36:00
this is going to be so good for our
00:36:02
agriculture industry. This
00:36:04
renegotiation, these opening up markets
00:36:06
under Joe Biden, we lost $50 billion uh
00:36:09
in trade. We went from a Z trade deficit
00:36:11
with Trump one to a $50 billion trade
00:36:14
deficit with Biden. And that's $50
00:36:16
billion almost directly out of our
00:36:18
farmers pockets. So that you know the
00:36:20
short term but that the president is
00:36:22
with them. But secondly to your point
00:36:24
there are tremendous headwinds whether
00:36:27
it is the trade renegotiation whether it
00:36:29
is you know row crops especially being
00:36:32
in the thinnest margins they've ever had
00:36:35
in their lifetimes and then we export so
00:36:38
many of those row crops that's almost a
00:36:39
double whammy. the president's vision of
00:36:42
a you know basically a disruptive
00:36:44
restructure of the American economy
00:36:46
includes the ship building and so for
00:36:48
again a lot of the exporters that need
00:36:49
that extra fee on top of that is just
00:36:52
one more um and again that that Jame
00:36:55
Greer and the team has been great
00:36:56
they've been solving for that and
00:36:57
ensuring that a is at the table and that
00:37:00
every day and every decision they're
00:37:01
making um they're doing that but but I
00:37:04
think ultimately and this has been a big
00:37:06
part of what I've been talking to the
00:37:07
farmers about is ensuring that we're
00:37:09
opening up those new markets. And
00:37:12
whether it's India or Japan or South
00:37:16
Korea or Brazil or Peru or the UK, I am
00:37:20
going to all of those countries in the
00:37:22
next few months. And this is just me on
00:37:23
behalf of agriculture. This isn't our
00:37:25
our trade crew, our commerce secretary.
00:37:27
I mean, it's just me. But I feel so
00:37:31
bullish on the idea that if we are we're
00:37:34
on Trump time, we deploy Trump time,
00:37:36
which is going as fast as you can, as
00:37:38
hard as you can for as long as you can
00:37:40
around the world. We're going to open up
00:37:42
so many new markets for our farmers and
00:37:45
then we solve for the labor issue, which
00:37:47
you brought up, which is a really big
00:37:49
issue. Now, I think sometimes the
00:37:50
Californians tend to inflate that
00:37:53
because What are you trying to say?
00:37:54
Yeah, I know. They're they're they think
00:37:56
a little bit differently. I hear it in
00:37:58
Florida, too. Yeah. Well, and and
00:37:59
there's no doubt our I'll give you one
00:38:01
statistic from a large strawberry
00:38:03
farmer. I work in strawberry um as well
00:38:06
as other crops. Uh but the farmer
00:38:09
mentioned that he he did an analysis. He
00:38:11
thinks that since precoid days, the
00:38:13
total labor cost in the strawberry
00:38:15
industry has grown from 700 million a
00:38:17
year to 2 billion a year. Wow. And
00:38:18
that's really hurt margins. And so it's
00:38:21
really hard to net a profit,
00:38:23
particularly in specialty crops, not row
00:38:25
crops where everything's automated, but
00:38:26
specialty crops where you're dependent
00:38:28
on labor doing work in the field,
00:38:30
harvesting product to to be able to keep
00:38:32
up with the the lack of labor and that
00:38:35
of late there's been a lot of an exodus
00:38:37
of of immigrants out of that that might
00:38:40
qualify under the uh the visa program.
00:38:42
So maybe I don't know if you're active
00:38:43
or spending or the the department and
00:38:46
and I'll and I'll put a little note a
00:38:48
little um cross the tea on what you just
00:38:50
said and that is I'm a Texan and our
00:38:52
South Texas the citrus farmers down
00:38:54
there think about in Mexico for some of
00:38:57
them half a mile away they can see it
00:38:59
right across the border now through the
00:39:00
wall but they can see it and uh and the
00:39:03
it's $2 an hour those farmers are paying
00:39:06
$2 an hour over there. you come across
00:39:08
on our side and with everything that
00:39:10
we're required to do and pay and do it's
00:39:12
20 to $23 an hour. How do you compete?
00:39:15
You're you're you're growing the same
00:39:17
crops. You can't. And so that's what we
00:39:20
really have to focus on. Our dairy
00:39:21
farmers, you know, the the visa programs
00:39:23
don't work for them. It's not a seasonal
00:39:25
deal. Those cows have to be milked 365
00:39:28
days a year. They can't find people to
00:39:30
to to milk the cows. So the president,
00:39:33
not in today's cabinet meeting, but in
00:39:35
the last one a couple weeks ago, brought
00:39:37
this up himself and he said, and he and
00:39:39
I talked about it in the first term,
00:39:40
we've talked about it since then. He
00:39:43
understands that there is a massive
00:39:45
labor challenge for our farmers and our
00:39:46
ranchers, especially our farmers in this
00:39:48
country, but our ranchers as well. And
00:39:51
he himself said, you know, that that
00:39:53
those who are not here legally, they
00:39:55
need to go back. they need to
00:39:57
self-epport, but that we will ensure
00:39:59
that there's some sort of program in
00:40:02
place that will help make sure that our
00:40:04
farmers on this side have the labor that
00:40:06
they need. Now, the details of that are
00:40:08
being worked out. I can't really talk
00:40:09
much about it, but the fact that the
00:40:12
president himself is focused on that
00:40:14
should give our farmers some some a lot
00:40:16
of encouragement that help help
00:40:18
literally, figuratively, and
00:40:20
metaphorically is on the way. Got it. I
00:40:23
think that's a key thing for farmers to
00:40:25
hear. they, you know, from what I hear
00:40:26
from folks in the industry, it it's
00:40:28
something that they want to make sure is
00:40:29
is acknowledged and and addressed. Um,
00:40:33
it's agriculture is such an interesting
00:40:35
market. There's such an alignment with
00:40:37
some of these conservative values that
00:40:39
you and this administration espouse, but
00:40:41
then there's such an important role that
00:40:42
government actually plays. That's
00:40:44
exactly right. that that is at this
00:40:46
point you couldn't it's you know I I
00:40:49
love Elon and love Doge and they've been
00:40:51
such a good partner and helping us get
00:40:53
rid of the the the $500,000 grant to
00:40:56
study transgender menstruation cycles in
00:40:59
men and you know the what the mice are
00:41:01
going to do with under you blah blah the
00:41:03
craziness he's been wonderful but um but
00:41:06
agriculture in many ways is different
00:41:09
you can't come in here and gut the crop
00:41:12
insurance program you will lose lose
00:41:15
thousands of farmers and guess who
00:41:17
swoops in and picks up their land in
00:41:19
their operation? The Chinese get you.
00:41:21
You just can't do it. Now, my goal and
00:41:24
my fervent prayer is that in four years
00:41:26
from now, we will have moved. We will
00:41:29
have opened up the markets. We'll have
00:41:30
reached this new era of prosperity for
00:41:32
our farmers and our ranchers. And in so
00:41:34
doing, this should be the goal of every
00:41:35
government program that we're able to
00:41:38
roll a lot of that back and out and that
00:41:40
we don't need it as much so the budget
00:41:42
can come down over time. Exactly. Yes.
00:41:44
That's the goal. The same with the food
00:41:45
stamps. I mean, talk about 80% of the
00:41:46
USDA budget is food stamps. Our goal
00:41:50
needs to be moving people into a work,
00:41:53
you know, a life of work filled with
00:41:55
dignity where they don't need those
00:41:56
programs anymore versus the last
00:41:58
administration trying to get as many
00:41:59
people into those programs as possible.
00:42:02
Our goal is to move them off of programs
00:42:03
because they have a good well-paying job
00:42:05
and they don't need that anymore. No one
00:42:06
wants a handout. Exactly. No one wants a
00:42:09
handout. I think that's what a lot of a
00:42:10
lot of people don't understand. And so
00:42:12
effectuating on that is really
00:42:13
important. Yeah. And I guess maybe you
00:42:15
can share a little bit of the anecdotes.
00:42:17
What's it been like with the Doge
00:42:18
representatives that have been come into
00:42:20
the department of a are they embedded?
00:42:22
Are they long-term? Do you believe that
00:42:25
Doge plays as an forget Elon? Yeah. But
00:42:29
as um a department or whatever it is ad
00:42:32
hoc department, does it play a long-term
00:42:34
role in continuously improving and
00:42:36
identifying opportunities for cost
00:42:38
savings?
00:42:39
thousand% and it's it's like all my
00:42:42
dreams have come true. You know, I'll
00:42:44
never forget when the president came
00:42:45
down the escalator in 2015 and he was
00:42:47
talking about for every one new
00:42:48
regulation, we're going to get rid of
00:42:50
two. And I thought, are you kidding me?
00:42:52
For the first time, are we making
00:42:54
deregulation fun and sexy? Like I've
00:42:57
been talking about this in Texas and it
00:42:58
no one wanted to talk about it, right?
00:43:00
Even Republicans like, oh, you know, we
00:43:02
can never get rid of once government's
00:43:04
there, we just have to make it better.
00:43:06
And Donald Trump 10 years ago started
00:43:08
talking about it, made it a thing. The
00:43:11
first year of Trump won for every one
00:43:12
new regulation, 22 win. The next year it
00:43:15
was 17, the next year 13, I think. And
00:43:17
then by the end, because it got a little
00:43:18
bit harder to find them, but still it
00:43:20
wasn't two to one. Our average was like
00:43:22
10 to one in the first Trump
00:43:23
administration. Well, then you add on
00:43:26
Elon Musk and his, you know, team of
00:43:29
geniuses who normally would never even
00:43:32
think about being in government. Not
00:43:34
that they wouldn't want to, but they
00:43:35
wouldn't even begin to know how. You
00:43:37
combine that with this idea that we're
00:43:38
returning power to the people. We're
00:43:40
downsizing government. We are not in
00:43:42
charge that the we're not here for the
00:43:45
people to serve us like some monarchy.
00:43:46
We're here to serve the people. And
00:43:48
that's a fundamental shift in the way
00:43:50
we're thinking in the federal
00:43:51
government. And then to add Elon on. So
00:43:53
it actually right after our cabinet
00:43:54
meeting, maybe right before a couple
00:43:56
hours ago, I guess the news reports were
00:43:57
saying, "Oh, he's headed back to, you
00:44:00
know, do his business." I pulled him
00:44:01
aside and I said, "I hope this isn't
00:44:04
true. This country needs you and your
00:44:06
team forever." And to see now the states
00:44:09
begin to add their own doses. This is
00:44:11
how we save America. This is how we
00:44:13
protect the country. Hopefully that
00:44:15
becomes the institution. It becomes
00:44:16
institutionaliz. Exactly. And and
00:44:18
hopefully we make it so powerful and get
00:44:21
the people so involved that even the
00:44:22
Democrats can't roll it back that this
00:44:25
is the long-term plan for the country.
00:44:27
for your uh department, there's a big
00:44:29
farm bill negotiation that comes up.
00:44:31
I've I've been in DC a couple of times
00:44:33
for farm bills. I'll give an anecdote.
00:44:34
Uh go in I have a conversation with
00:44:37
someone on a committee or in an office
00:44:39
and they're like, "Well, I I'll we can
00:44:41
get this thing, but we got to go give
00:44:42
the other guys this thing." And it it
00:44:44
clearly becomes this bill that today I
00:44:46
think is rated at a trillion five over
00:44:48
whatever the the the the budgeting
00:44:50
period is. It's one of the largest bills
00:44:52
we pass and the SNAP program is in it.
00:44:55
So it serves the House of
00:44:57
Representatives interests and then all
00:44:58
the farm programs are in it. So it
00:45:00
serves the Senate interests because the
00:45:01
Senate is heavily influenced by rural
00:45:03
states, by agriculture. And so it's
00:45:06
become this behemoth bill. And how do
00:45:09
you view are you going to play a role in
00:45:11
um and how do you view this kind of
00:45:13
horse trading that needs to go on to
00:45:15
ultimately reduce government
00:45:17
inefficiency, spending on things that
00:45:19
don't necessarily make sense as we get
00:45:21
into this farm bill negotiation in the
00:45:23
next couple of months? Well, I am
00:45:26
encouraged that that the Biden team
00:45:28
couldn't get it done. I mean, they
00:45:30
worked and it's important. I know a lot
00:45:32
of people are hating it and they should
00:45:35
because it does become a Christmas tree
00:45:36
of sorts, but the reference prices,
00:45:39
which is what our farmers are paid on,
00:45:40
have not been changed since the last
00:45:42
farm bill, which was at the beginning of
00:45:43
Trump one. So, Debbie Stabinau, who's
00:45:46
now gone, was the lead Democrat in the
00:45:47
Senate. The Senate was leading. Of
00:45:49
course, Joe Biden wasn't. That team was
00:45:51
sort of MIA. Um, we've got a different
00:45:53
team on the ground now. And one of the
00:45:55
very first conversations I had with Amy
00:45:57
Clolobachar, who took Debbie Steanel's
00:45:59
place as the lead Democrat, um, of
00:46:01
course now we we're running the Senate,
00:46:02
it's a little bit different, is how do
00:46:04
we get this done? But realizing that the
00:46:07
SNAP program, which is what the
00:46:08
Democrats are always trying to put more
00:46:09
money into, that grew 40% under the Joe
00:46:12
Biden term, 40%. The program that was
00:46:15
already this gigantic, you know, huge
00:46:18
amounts of waste and fraud and abuse,
00:46:20
it's now even more. And they did that on
00:46:22
purpose, right? They knew it would be
00:46:23
hard for us to roll that back. I'm
00:46:25
underscoring your point that this is not
00:46:27
going to be easy. That um the farmer
00:46:30
part of the farm bill is 15% 15. The
00:46:34
food stamp part of the farm bill is 85%.
00:46:38
So I have been thinking about this
00:46:39
already having conversations and
00:46:41
strategy sessions on both sides of the
00:46:42
aisle. Frankly, we've got to get this
00:46:44
done for our farmers. And even, you
00:46:46
know, to Senator Clolobachar's credit
00:46:48
and other Senate Democrats on the A
00:46:50
committee, they care as much about the
00:46:52
farmer um in their states as I believe
00:46:55
most of the Republicans do. It's a a is
00:46:57
the number one industry in almost every
00:46:59
state. And so trying to find that middle
00:47:02
ground, but ensuring that we're bringing
00:47:05
real reform to the SNAP program, but
00:47:06
that we're most importantly supporting
00:47:08
our farmers and our ranchers will
00:47:10
continue to be the driver. As in all
00:47:12
things, I think Donald Trump is the is
00:47:14
the the game changer here and I think
00:47:16
he's gonna help us get this done. So, I
00:47:17
want to talk about one last point before
00:47:19
we wrap, which is on um innovation
00:47:22
generally speaking in food. There's been
00:47:25
a large amount and how it relates to
00:47:27
protecting farmers interests. Yeah. Um
00:47:29
there's been a lot of investment in
00:47:30
cellular agriculture using cells to make
00:47:33
milk or eggs or cheese or fish or
00:47:36
chicken. um you know using new
00:47:38
biotechnologies
00:47:40
and uh Dantis went on stage with a
00:47:43
couple of ranchers from Florida and they
00:47:46
passed a law banning the sale or
00:47:49
production of cellular agriculture
00:47:51
cellular products in the state and there
00:47:53
are two other states that have passed
00:47:54
laws others that are considering it now
00:47:56
there's a conversation about some folks
00:47:57
at the house also doing it and the
00:47:59
general statement well there's already a
00:48:01
regulatory framework for making sure
00:48:02
it's safe for consumers making sure it's
00:48:04
healthy etc. Some people might not like
00:48:07
it, but I go back to my free market
00:48:09
principles. Why not let consumers
00:48:11
choose? As long as it's safe, as long as
00:48:12
it's appropriately regulated, shouldn't
00:48:14
it be made available rather than
00:48:16
protecting the interests? Otherwise, you
00:48:18
end up looking like Europe and Europe
00:48:20
has stifled innovation in agriculture
00:48:23
for decades and as a result, they have
00:48:25
fallen way behind America and it's an
00:48:27
opportunity for America to sustain its
00:48:29
innovative advantage. Yeah. Do you have
00:48:31
you spent any time on this topic? And do
00:48:33
you have a point of view? Well, let me
00:48:34
say this. I have not dug into this yet
00:48:38
the amount that I need to. But having
00:48:40
said that, I do believe that the
00:48:42
innovation and the drive for better
00:48:46
should never be stifled. And I sincerely
00:48:49
believe that there is hopefully room for
00:48:53
everyone, especially as this emerging
00:48:55
market is happening. And I also believe
00:48:58
that at the end of the day, the American
00:49:01
consumer when most of them when having
00:49:03
to decide between real American beef and
00:49:06
something that's not that they're going
00:49:08
to choose the real American beef. So I
00:49:11
at least in my, you know, nominal
00:49:13
knowledge at this point without digging
00:49:14
in, I just believe so strongly in our in
00:49:17
our ranchers and our farmers and what
00:49:19
they produce and what it means to the
00:49:21
average American family. I'm the mom of
00:49:23
four uh and how I feed my family, but I
00:49:26
don't think we ever want to get in the
00:49:28
way of stifling innovation, especially
00:49:31
as it relates to something that could
00:49:32
eventually be such a gamecher. Well,
00:49:35
Brooke, I really appreciate all the time
00:49:37
you've given us given me today. Uh it's
00:49:39
really great to spend this uh this hour
00:49:41
with you and congrats on the role.
00:49:43
Congrats on the progress and really look
00:49:45
forward to seeing the work you're going
00:49:46
to be doing over the years ahead. Thank
00:49:47
you. Oh, thank you. It's an honor to do
00:49:49
it. Thank you. Thank you.
00:49:52
[Music]
00:49:56
I'm going all in.
