Senate confirms Brooke Rollins, longtime Trump ally, as agriculture secretary
Brooke Rollins, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, was confirmed on Thursday by the Senate as the agriculture secretary.
Rollins, 52, was confirmed by a vote of 72-28. As head of the United States Department of Agriculture, Rollins will lead a 100,000-person agency with offices in every county in the country, whose remit includes farm and nutrition programs, forestry, home and farm lending, food safety, rural development, agricultural research, trade and more. The agency had a budget of $437.2 billion in 2024.
Before her confirmation, Rollins served as president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative, pro-Trump think tank she formed in 2021 alongside other members of the former president's orbit while out of office.
A conservative lawyer, Rollins also served in the final year of Trump’s first term as acting director of the White House's Domestic Policy Council. She was also among the speakers at the Republican National Convention in 2024.
Before her time in Washington, Rollins, a Texas native, served as an aide to then-Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry. She was also CEO and president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank in the Lone Star State.
The agriculture secretary's agenda would carry implications for American diets and wallets, both urban and rural. Department of Agriculture officials and staff negotiate trade deals, guide dietary recommendations, inspect meat, fight wildfires and support rural broadband, among other activities.
Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, Paste BN