Sen. Sherrod Brown predicts smooth confirmation for Rep. Marcia Fudge if she's picked as Biden's [View all]

Sen. Sherrod Brown predicts smooth confirmation for Rep. Marcia Fudge if she’s picked as Biden’s Agriculture Secretary


WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senior Senate Agriculture Committee member Sherrod Brown on Wednesday predicted that U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights would not run into opposition in the U.S. Senate if President-elect Joe Biden nominates her to be U.S. Secretary of Agriculture unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocks across-the-board confirmation of prospective Biden cabinet members.

“Marcia will have no problems with the Senate Agriculture Committee,” said the Ohio Democrat, who has served on the committee for more than a dozen years. “The only problem she could have is if McConnell decides, like he did with Merrick Garland from the Supreme Court, he’s not going to move on any nominees of almost any kind.”

Republicans will control the Senate next year unless Democrats can win a pair of Georgia seats in a January runoff election. Multiple Republican Senators have voiced qualms about Biden’s selection to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden.

Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio on Tuesday said she’ll face a “tough” confirmation because of her liberal record and history of making “highly partisan” public comments, though he said he’d support holding a hearing on the nomination. Portman, who headed OMB when George W. Bush was president, would chair one of the two committees that would oversee Tanden’s nomination if Republicans retain Senate control.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/12/sen-sherrod-brown-predicts-smooth-confirmation-for-rep-marcia-fudge-if-shes-picked-as-bidens-agriculture-secretary.html