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Washington, D.C., Feb. 14, 2025—On her first full day in office, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins took bold action to advance President Trump’s agenda and ensure that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) better serves American farmers, ranchers, loggers and the agriculture community.
Here are seven key actions Secretary Rollins took on Day One.
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Issued a memorandum to rescind all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and celebrations. Instead, USDA will reprioritize unity, equality, meritocracy, and color-blind policies.
As Secretary Rollins said in her opening remarks this morning at the Department, “We will neither commemorate nor celebrate our immutable characteristics, neither among ourselves nor among Americans at large. We will instead celebrate the things that make us American: merit, faith, and liberty first among them. All Americans deserve equal dignity, and at this Department they will receive it. On this precipice of the 250th anniversary of our Revolution, we will rededicate ourselves to ‘the proposition that all men are created equal.’”
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Sent a letter to the nation’s governors (PDF, 88.8 KB), outlining her vision for the Department and inviting them to participate in a new “laboratories for innovation” initiative to create bold solutions to long-ignored challenges.
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Sent a notice to state leaders encouraging them to participate in pilot programs to reform the food stamp program (SNAP). In particular, she outlined principles of reform, such as establishing more robust work requirements.
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Convened a briefing on avian flu and reviewed options for a comprehensive strategy to combat Avian flu and lower the price of eggs. Secretary Rollins plans to finalize and implement this strategy in short order.
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Delivered a video message and a letter of gratitude (PDF, 35.7 KB) to U.S. Forest Service firefighters for their recent heroic actions to save lives and curb the devastating wildfires in California.
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Reviewed and implemented findings from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to optimize the USDA workforce and stop wasteful spending. Already, USDA has identified more than $132 million in excess spending. USDA has terminated 78 contracts, totaling more than $132 million. Additionally, more than 1,000 contracts are currently under review. USDA has also identified and canceled 948 employee trainings, 758 of which focused on DEI alone. See full details on the USDA website.
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Held a media availability at the White House, where she discussed key priorities for American farmers and ranchers, addressing food prices due to the failed policies of the Biden administration, food stamp reform, working with DOGE to optimize the Department.
- This evening, Secretary Rollins is headed to Kentucky to address more than 20,000 patriots at the National Farm Machinery Show and Tractor Pull.
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
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