USDA Rural Development says the Department is seeking to create an environment where rural America can prosper.
Ann Hazlett oversees the Rural Utilities Service, Rural Business Service and Rural Housing Service. Hazlett received the appointement to the newly created position of Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development last month.
The appointment is part of a restructuring plan that eliminates the undersecretary position for Rural Development, a plan that?s met some opposition. USDA says the move allows for an increased emphasis on Rural Development, that?s needed in the face of economic difficulties in rural communities.
Hazlett, an Indiana native, has worked on agriculture and rural issues for more than fifteen years. Hazlett said USDA would examine the many challenges in rural America.
?We?re simply looking to create an environment where rural America can prosper,? Hazlett said. ?In that pursuit, we?re really looking at several different bucket of issues, if you will, affecting our small towns and rural places; quality of life, some of the challenges we have for workforce and education in these places, the need for innovation and then, the need for economic development and jobs.?
Another priority for Rural Development is delivering broadband Internet to rural areas, which USDA considers a necessity.
?That?s a top priority for Secretary Perdue and the Administration,? Hazlett said. ?The Secretary has said broadband is truly the water, sewer and electricity of the modern era. We have several existing tools here, at Rural Development, but we?re certainly looking at how we can partner better with other folks in the federal family. We?re also looking at how we can innovate in this space and then lastly, how we can improve our own processes at USDA, so our tools function better and are easier to use. ?
Hazlett is a graduate of Kansas State University. Before coming to USDA, Hazlett served as Chief Counsel to the majority on the Senate Agriculture Committee. By removing the undersecretary position and putting rural programs under an appointed position, Hazlett was able to start work immediately at USDA.
Other divisions of USDA overseen by an undersecretary are awaiting new leadership. American Soybean Association CEO Stephen Censky was nominated by President Trump to serve as the USDA deputy secretary. President Trump also nominated Ted McKinney to Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs and Sam Clovis for Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics.
Senator Chuck Grassley says Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey is in the last steps of the paperwork process for a position at the United States Department of Agriculture.
?It?s just the red tape of doing every step you have too,? Grassley said. ?The ethics and conflicts of interest forms you have to fill-out, along with 120-page applications you have to fill-out too are a long process.? Grassley said he believes ?the President will be asked to sign-off on Northey?s nomination in a week or two?.
According to first reports, in Agri-Pulse, back in May, Northey is expected to receive nomination for the Farm Production and Conservation UnderSecretary position. The nomination has not yet been officially announced.
