The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry gained five new members in the 117th Congress.
The new members are Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ben Luján of New Mexico, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.
All the senators except Booker are newly-elected officials. A total of 22 committee members are evenly split along party lines, 11-11. Republicans controlled the committee 11-9 during the 116th Congress.
Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas is now the ranking Republican on the committee.
Luján and Marshall both grew up on family farms, according to their biographies.
The other new committee members encompass a variety of ideological backgrounds, including Booker, who has at times been an outspoken critic of animal feeding operations and what he called “large factory farms.”
In a statement, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, chairwoman of the committee, announced the committee’s majority members and welcomed the new Democrats.
“I am honored to once again serve as chairwoman of the committee at such an important time, and I’m ready to get to work,” Stabenow said. “I’m pleased to be joined by 10 colleagues on the majority side, including our new members Sens. Booker, Luján, and Warnock. I look forward to partnering with Ranking Member John Boozman to continue the committee’s long history of bipartisanship.”
Earlier this year, Stabenow announced her agenda for the U.S. Senate committee includes strengthening the U.S. food supply chain, addressing “the climate crisis,” fighting childhood hunger by improving child nutrition programs and improving rural quality of life. Other priorities include filling leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and laying groundwork for the next farm bill.
“We look forward to our continued work with the U.S. Senate Ag Committee to advance Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) national priorities,” TFB National Legislative Director Laramie Adams said. “We have always engaged with members of the committee to help ensure Texas Farm Bureau has a seat at the table when key decisions are made, whether it is on the farm bill or other important agricultural issues. We will work with ag committee members to ensure farm and ranch families’ concerns are addressed and find new ways to help strengthen agricultural policy.”