Sens. Marshall, Grassley Ask USDA Sec. Vilsack to Clarify Previous Testimony

(Washington, D.C., March 14, 2023) – Today, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack requesting clarification of the testimony he provided to the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry on May 26, 2022. During that hearing, Secretary Vilsack claimed that the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) was not consulted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding a matter before the Supreme Court concerning the safe use of glyphosate. Ultimately, the U.S. Solicitor General reversed the federal government’s long-held view on federal preemption and decided to side with the Plaintiffs Bar instead of the agricultural industry. However, on February 2, 2023, DOJ informed Senator Marshall that USDA was invited to share its views in the Monsanto case.

The Senators wrote in part,

“As Secretary of Agriculture for a decade, you should be well aware that the longstanding practice of the DOJ is to solicit the views of other cabinet departments before taking a public position on a matter before the Supreme Court. Here, those stakeholders expressly include your department as indicated by the DOJ in its response to Senator Marshall. Your allegation that DOJ ignored the Agriculture Department before filing its brief in the Monsanto case stunned many in the agricultural community and led them to believe that USDA had been shunted aside.

We acknowledge that it is possible that Deputy Assistant Attorney General N. Slade Bond II could have provided false information in his letter. However, considering the DOJ’s admission that USDA was asked for its views, we would like to offer you the opportunity to clarify the testimony you provided on Thursday, May 26, 2022 or reaffirm that what you said was accurate.”

The letter also requested that the Secretary inform the Senators of what position USDA recommended the DOJ take on the case or if USDA failed to provide its views.

You may click HERE or scroll below to read the Senators’ full letter.

The Honorable Tom Vilsack

Secretary

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1400 Independence Avenue SW

Washington, DC 20250

Dear Secretary Vilsack,

On Thursday, May 26, 2022, you testified before the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. We write today to request a clarification of the testimony you provided that day. 

Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. and Senator Chuck Grassley both raised an issue of pressing concern to the agricultural industry relating to Monsanto Company v. Hardeman. As you are aware, on May 10, 2022, the U.S. Solicitor General reversed a long-held view on federal preemption, siding instead with the Plaintiffs’ Bar on that case. She recommended the Supreme Court of the Unites States not hear the Monsanto case about the safe use of glyphosate – a product American farmers use on roughly 40% of acreage that enables more than $50B of US crop production annually. Specifically, Senator Grassley asked:

The first thing that I am going to ask you about is pretty simple . . . was the USDA consulted in regard to this. Two weeks ago, the Solicitor General filed a brief of whether or not the Supreme Court should take a case involving widely used pesticides, in Iowa what we call Roundup, but the big classification is glyphosate. In that brief, the Solicitor General flipped the government’s long-held position that has been the position of the law since 1972, that FIFRA preempts state law. And then the Solicitor General argued even against the EPA authority that the law requires. Were you consulted on that in any way?

Your response to Senator Grassley was, “Senator, we were not.”

Following that hearing, Senator Marshall wrote a letter to President Biden with serious concerns regarding the Biden Administration’s apparent policy to deny or limit access to critical crop protection tools. Senator Marshall and others then asked the President to direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reverse its recommendation and defend glyphosate’s use as consistent with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act’s requirements. A copy of the letter is attached. 

On February 2, 2023, Senator Marshall’s office received a response from Deputy Assistant Attorney General N. Slade Bond II. In that letter, Mr. Bond states:

When the Supreme Court invites the Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the views of the United States, the Department of Justice’s established practice is to solicit the views of all federal stakeholders with equities related to the litigation. The stakeholders, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture, were invited to submit views in the Monsanto case. Longstanding Department of Justice policy precludes us from providing further information regarding internal or interagency communications about this matter.

(emphasis added).

As Secretary of Agriculture for a decade, you should be well aware that the longstanding practice of the DOJ is to solicit the views of other cabinet departments before taking a public position on a matter before the Supreme Court. Here, those stakeholders expressly include your department as indicated by the DOJ in its response to Senator Marshall. Your allegation that DOJ ignored the Agriculture Department before filing its brief in the Monsanto case stunned many in the agricultural community and led them to believe that USDA had been shunted aside.

We acknowledge that it is possible that Deputy Assistant Attorney General N. Slade Bond II could have provided false information in his letter. However, considering the DOJ’s admission that USDA was asked for its views, we would like to offer you the opportunity to clarify the testimony you provided on Thursday, May 26, 2022 or reaffirm that what you said was accurate.

In addition, if indeed USDA provided feedback, we request that you inform us of what position USDA recommended the DOJ take on the case. The primary responsibility for communicating with DOJ lies with the Office of General Counsel. If USDA failed to provide any views when requested to do so by the DOJ, have you as Secretary taken any corrective action to discipline those who failed to communicate the interests of American agriculture? American agriculture must have confidence that the Department of Agriculture understands the concerns that agricultural producers face and can effectively communicate those concerns to Departments in Washington, DC, that do not know the difference between a corn and soybean field.

American farmers and ranchers work through the volatility of weather, market demand, and the cost of production every day to feed the world. They depend on the Secretary of Agriculture to consult, advise, and educate those in the Biden Administration who may not be aware of agriculture’s unique challenges.  Now that DOJ indicated that it sought USDA’s opinion on the Monsanto case before filing its Supreme Court brief, we look forward to receiving clarification of your testimony and answers to the above questions so that farmers can know the truth and any necessary accountability can take place. 

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