Been exhumed for todays luncheon. We are pleased to have secretary of agriculture sonny perdue, we welcome him for the first time to the press club joining our distinguished century long roster of speakers. Remarks, iegin his would like you all to please put your phones on silent. Back in the day we would say turn them off, we want them on silent now so you can live tweet live npc is nbc live. We would also like to take a moment while you are silencing your phones and turning off other potentially a fiscal tory or distracting devices to introduce our head table. We would like you to hold your applause until after the full head table is introduced and then you can erupt in applause. Starting from my left and youre right, mark heller. He is an agricultural reporter. Marion, senior White House Correspondent at and lex white house watch. Tamara holleran, washington correspondent at the atlanta journalconstitution. Rich, the Deputy Communications director for secretary perdue. Stevens anstey, the deputy secretary of agriculture. We have fc Fisher Martin to my executive and culture of the npc have miners, which put together this event. Skipping over our speaker for a moment, we have abby livingston. Washington bureau chief at the texas tribune. Cameron hansen, founder of community out of pr. Talk, hese tim our Communications Director for the department of agriculture. Eggen ferguson Ellen Ferguson thorton,finally mace the director at the American Farm bureau federation. Thank you for being here today. [applause] also like to acknowledge additional headliners who are responsible for organizing todays event, lisa, jamie, heather, lori, and joe. Press club staff, especially lindsay and phil. For our cspan and public radio audiences, please be aware that in the audience today, they are members of the general public. Any reaction you hear is not from the working press or even the unemployed press. Getting to our speaker, sonny perdue, who joins us today. Secretary perdue, who can be found on twitter at secretary sunny has a lifetime involvement with agricultural. Georgia would later elect him his first theres the first republican since the era. Between that, he served in the u. S. Air force, christ to captain, and even a doctorate degree from university of georgia. He ran a private practice. Years in thed 11 Georgia State senate before becoming governor. He has run Small Businesses. It was that background he brought to a nationwide listening to her he recently completed. Would like to see in the next farm bill and how he and the department of agriculture are trying to inspire the next generation of farm and agricultural leaders. Me in what coming to the National PressClub Secretary of agriculture sonny perdue. [applause] much. Nk you very since i have never run for president , this is my first time at the press club. It is good to be here with you all today. Aboutf you have talked welcoming me, i am happy to be here. Example ofhe best your hospitality was this cookie here. The georgia bulldogs, we are hoping they would be in the National Championship as a former bulldog there. Im going to speak from some remarks. They have told my Communications Guy i was going to say this, he asked me not to. Stammering is a since you write things down, im going to read from prepared remarks. Everyone from our janitor to the general counsel, everybody will be good today. I want to start with a , maybe for thes press club it may not be so provocative. Something like no other federal Cabinet Department can claim, because every single day, every single american, every single district is directly and tangibly affected by the work of our department of agriculture. I think the last time i checked, weust enjoyed a great meal in this country, those that come and be with us, as well. To attend the g7 ministerial in italy a few weeks ago. There is an International Discussion about gmos. I made the comment that millions of your citizens come to our country, i dont think they bring their lunch with us, and they come all the help here. That was not necessarily persuasive for the eu people. We know that even people who send their kids to school with lunch are affected by usda policies, as well. Supermarket, affected by usda. I checked, we have to live, we have to eat, and we have to breeze that we have to breathe. Then come those services that capture carbon and make sure the air is clean. The u. S. Forest service affects us, as well. May be thele bipartisan cornerstone of this town. When it comes to personal daily touch, the usda has in the lives of everyone the on this order, i would submit to you the usda matters. Thats why im fascinated with the job, i am honored to be serving as the 31st secretary. We look forward to telling you about what we are trying to do in the department today. Given all that importance, you may feel like i should come with some flashy policy proposal today, but i resolved to my heart before this job that what people want from the government a room offering bring brcas of showcase aendas, but they want to see government that works for them. Governor. Do that as in georgia there was a governor who once ran on the slogan hes a workforce, not a show horse. I didnt use that, but i probably ceded to that description, as well. People want the government to work. Thoseks, and doesnt do things that they say. When i pledged the men and women of the United States what i would do is make usda work for them by turning it into my aspiration of the most efficient, effective, customer focused, the best managed department in the federal government. Thats what i want to talk to you about today. How do we plan to do that . That is a great aspiration. I spoke to one group and gave them that aspiration. I said we want to be the amazon of federal government. They say thats pretty strong. I said yes it is. We either go big or go home. Are you going to aspire to be the Postal Service . We want that kind of delivery. Tools and solutions for people out there today. To me, everything we do starts with the people we serve. How i ask me all the time like being in washington as secretary of agriculture. My answer is always i love the job. Some of you got that. They wont let me tell a word from georgia, if they did, i would love it even more. Bc, in is here in washington, d. C. , our people, our customers, the constituency of the usda are not in washington, d. C. Since taking office we have traveled over 30 states, six countries, the molding u. S. Agriculture. Her tour,tes to one into the northeast were we traveled about 2200 miles and we have at least two more planned for 2018. We do that because i believe people are seriously interested in leaders who will listen. America, and the public out there, certainly our constituents are crying for people to hear them and hear their voice. Let me give you some examples and my experiences from the road. Being out in so many listening sessions and spending time with andles whose livelihoods lives depend on the usda. 150 people got out on a cold monday morning in upstate new york, crowding into a dairy barn to hear my vision for the fpga for the fda. 200 people busted out the seams of the machine shed. 150 people on a sunday afternoon session in the central out Central Valley of california. 800 folks showed up and filled a gymnasium in montana. People filled the front lawn of Farm Bureau President in rural massachusetts on a gloomy thursday afternoon. People filled a rodeo floor in kansas city with virtually no notice. 100 people piled under a tent in a cornfield when our outside of springfield, illinois. 120 college kids interested in a future in agriculture came to visit and had a roundtable in tallahassee, florida. It goes on and on. Thats the example of the kind of hunger we see out there and ow we as a government, particularly the department of agriculture relate to people on the phones, the fields, communities of america. I dont say those things to tell you how busy i have been, i say them to let you know that people want to hear, they want to see people out there working. They are emblematic of how hungry the American People are poor people in this town to to keepecause they want talking to them and to listen. Their issues and work towards common solutions. I think it is fair to say that the demand was picked up. Was pentup. Folks found an honest listener , one whonest broker wants to hear from them, to listen to their issues, their problems, and hopefully work to solve some of them. This gives me a unique perspective of putting two different worlds. The world of washington and politics. Well. Ere, alive and the other world is the world of real people outside of this area, that dont know about what goes on here. I dont want to put your feelings, but they dont care too much. Ien i travel across america, dont get questions about the things everyone in washington seems to be talking about. I dont get asked about the latest scandal not even the president ,s twitter account. Those are the things that seem to be important to people in this town which are never mentioned when i listen to people outside. Those are not the things on the minds of the American People generally. 150 people get out on a freezing new cold morning in rural york to talk to me about agriculture. 60,000 young people joined me in convention. For a you know they are pretty serious about what they should do and whether aspiration are for their lives and how they can participate in the american dream. What are they saying . One of the very top issues is trade. Many are anxious about trade. Because of this, exports are responsible for more than 20 of the u. S. Farm income, almost over . 20 of farm income dollars arrives from foreign sold products. It also drives rural Economic Activity and it supports more than one million economic jobs or on both on and off the farm. The bill calls for a new position under secretary of trade and Foreign Agricultural services. That position was not created until we got here in may. I thought hearing from members from congress and putting my conversation, and the people in the field that i believe the trade was important. I know from my sprint it is important. We created that position and invited the president nominated ted mckinney from indiana to fill the position. He has hit the ground running. We met this morning to hear about his latest trip to colombia, panama, and brazil. In a few weeks, he has logged 30,000 Miles Airport wise. He is hitting the ground running. Total aboutrted 140 billion. Thats why 17, thats up from the previous year. The third highest level on record, even lower commodity prices. When you look at exports in dollar terms, you have different price points to deal with. Point in the lowest commodity pricing, one of our lowest points. Exports are third highest on record. The most recent trade forecast 18,cts 140 billion in fy which is on track with fy 17, and would be the fourth best year on record. Surplusall agricultural is expected to grow to more than 23 billion in 2018. Our president is concerned about our trade deficit. To remind him every time i am in his presence that agriculture delivers to a trade surplus, and he needs to recognize that. We also have great individual victories that you have read about. Usd backded in getting into china for the first time in 13 years. Riceened china to american for the first time ever. We still working out smaller details. We got you a sport back into argentina for the we got u. S. Pork back into argentina. The European Union dropped their requirement that Citrus Growers be surveyed for citrus canker, which eases the entry of u. S. Citrus in the market and saves growers thousands of dollars in production costs. Market has been expanded for resumingping potatoes, imports from idaho for the first time in 11 years. Imports ofalso on u. S. Distillers dried grains. They announce south korea lifted its ban on imports of u. S. Poultry and products including fresh eggs. All of those are good news, but we want more. Im a grow it and sell it back. People think we should restrain in agriculture, i think if American Farmers produce it, the u. S the usda should be helping o sell it. Uspect more than a few of you will ask me about nafta if i dont address it now. Clausnded to ask santa for a perfect final trade deal, wrapped up and put on the tree for American Farmers. Then i remembered the north pole might be too close to canada for those things to turn out well for us. Aside, i do remain optimistic about the future of our trilateral trading relationship. This is noty, original with me, you look at mexico, the United States, and canada. I think we live in the best neighborhood on the planet. To have a deal that would take advantage of those relationships logistically in the common north america makes all the sense in the world. We know agriculture. Has benefited from nafta. We believe with some remodern i , some some readjusting tweaking, it can continue on. That is very important for our department. We know that President Trump is a top negotiator, we know he puts America First. At the end of the day, i believe we will wind up with a renewed nafta that is there for america, that is better for america. Mottopartments official because of the economy, the economy of agriculture and how it fits in, this is the official motto of the usda. Agriculture is the foundation of manufacture and commerce. Thats a pretty powerful statement when you think about it. The relationship between the agriculture economy and the overall economy. We too were a lot of great facilities. We tour a lot of great facilities. I was at one in illinois that created manufactured sprayers. And agriculture blows you away. They have a sprayer with optical sensors that detect noxious weeds and sprays the chemical on it. Those are the things happening in america that many people dont understand. Is, a healthye agriculture economy is imperative for the rest of our economy to thrive, as well. Our producers will do their part in the progression. We need a fair, functioning nafta agreement. As far as trade goes, we are making terrific progress. I feel comfortable we will reach a deal. We put some tough things on the table, as we should. I think we will reach a deal for everyone. We know we will get a farm bill coming up soon, 2018. I believe the chairman feel like they are on track. They have done a lot of work in the area. Grassley s we are behind, but senator grassley have a lot of opinions. We are on track for a good farm bill. I dont think there is going to be a revolutionary deal. I think the 14 farm bill will be more evolutionary. There are a couple of places that didnt make it quite as good as many people had hoped, the dairy industry, and the cotton industry. I think we will see things to address that. Work. Ieve it will the usda is going to provide the background, the resources, the feedback. Allear from the heartland, these listening sessions, so members of congress that are responsible for the farm bill can make good on a fax base, facts base, data driven farm bill. We are working on what we think is the right approach or the usda and the relationship to congress. We will provide them with what we believe are the basic bedrock principles that make a good farm bill. I think some of these principles are the direct result of what i heard from the people of agriculture during my travels. They are the ones that live with these policies. They are the ones who have to execute the policies that we create. I think they have some of the best ideas and what works for previous farm bills, and what doesnt work. We will be talking about those principles across all of our missionaries. Usda and all the responsibilities. The 2018 farm bill will have a radical departure in changes. We will make improvements in some of those areas, ultimately up to congress to decide what they want us to implement. To provideady whatever counsel congress may believe and require as our opinion on these things. You may remember on the day i was sworn in, President Trump signed an executive order for agriculture and rural prosperity. Any purpose of any farm bill is to support Rural America, which is the act bone and breadbasket of this country. When he signed the order creating task force on agriculture and rural prosperity, he asked us to chair that. Had a relationship with other agencies with how we can make a difference in Rural America. When you look at the numbers, much of america has recovered or is certainly in the beginning stages of recovering from the great depression, but that doesnt seem to be true for Rural America. Progress is lagging behind. While the population is growing in urban areas, suburban areas, the population across Rural America is stagnant or even diminishing. We have to do a better job. Its the responsibility of the usda to do a better job in providing the hope and Economic Opportunity for those Rural Americans, those involved in agriculture. Chores, during our chores, we listened, gathered information, we came up with a report after the 180 day timeline to submit to the white house. It will be released soon. They are reviewing that now. Willve specific execution ask and execution of election items that we want past. We think we can help america succeed and thrive, that includes things like access to capital, infrastructure improvements. I dont want to preempt that, stay tuned. Know, i know they brought reorganization of the usda. Part of that was approached the way we deal with Rural Development. We elevated our Rural Development senior person to be an office an officer who reports right to the sector. We want a person who has walk in privileges to come in and discuss ideas, not have to make an appointment to schedule. To come in and say we have this idea, we want to do this, what do you think and get a go no go pursuit of those ideas. I consider this to be another limitation i consider this to be an elevation of Rural Development. They are doing a great job and we look for to having great things from our Rural Development staff across the country. Is we heard trade, labor, and regulation. When you talk to farmers, its inevitable they will complain to you about regulations. As you know, one of the first actions the president took through our director of epa was to rescind the waters of the u. S. Rule. That is being reconsidered, most farmers felt this is an extremely onerous, confiscatory kind of rule that would damage the with a farm in a significant way. In an executive order, President Trump directed each agency to review and consider reducing those kind of regulations. For every regulatory action, we are under the obligation to publish to the regulatory actions. Impact,tions have real not just bureaucratic shell games. Total regulatory cost must be offset by savings from the regulatory actions. Coste reporting the actual savings of the regulation to the president. For this fall agenda, we submitted 28 final deregulatory actions. Believe, will we generate major oval cost measurable costs millions in analyzed savings. One of them has to do with our relationship with the states. Understandstration we all serve the same people. They are inviting county andissioners, governors, have an integrated relationship across the level of government that i have never seen before. I am envious as a former governor to have that kind of relationship with a federal government. States are closer to the people they serve, not all states are the same. Policies need to recognize that reality and maximize flexibility when we are altogether possible. One of my first actions as secretary was to provide flexibility to the state and local School Systems regarding School Lunches. By a childnerated and friend of mine who told me after i was nominated, he said i told my granddaughter what the responsibilities of the secretary of agriculture were and i said it included School Lunches. She said he can make School Lunches great again . That is the way those things happen. When i talked to the school lunch professional, we found out how the professional nutritionists and dietitians were spending more time in front of a spreadsheet then they were in the ability to do their job and we gave them flexibility. We will also allow states more flexibility in the snap program. The goal of the program is to provide support for families as they are strengthened and enabled for selfsufficiency. We want states to have the flexibility to structure their program to provide the best Customer Service and delivery to maintain the integrity of the system by reducing fraud, and ultimately help the families to grow stronger and more selfreliant. One organization we dont think of as regulatory, but if you think about it you notice one of the most important is the irs. Farmers will benefit from whats happening on capitol hill now with the tax bill. On farmers and Small Businesses is greater than the numbers on a spreadsheet by the time they have to plan. While we think of farming spiritually as a lifestyle, it is also a business. If youre not profitable, you dont get to do a very long. Our farmers benefit from the provisions of the tax bill, and also benefit from the recep reduction of talked of time, positivethinking, vision, having to plan for taxes and all of those things. It cannot be totally quantified in those areas, they are real. Believe will be a great Christmas Present for the American People. I want to applaud president mp, i think he is probably he has probably done what people could be done. Im impressed with the regular orders, this has been done through the house, the Senate Passing a bill. Now you have a conference committee. Thats how things used to be done here. Happening, way its the president has been very involved individually with members of the house and senate. We are hoping congress can come to terms with the final bill for the president to consider very soon. N i told you that i expect my aspiration for the usda to be the most effective, efficient, customer focused department in the federal government, it starts with good people. Introduce, i am very proud to have him on board with implementing a new operating model for usda. Its a cultural change, we are going up and down the ladder. Hes working hard to do that. When i interviewed steve, he had been the ceo of the American Soybean Association or 20 years 420 years for 20 years. He said his board is 48 farmers that rotate on a 23 years races bases. He is doing it. What he and i are determined to be taxed waste textbased, customer driven. The gheeou heard about wiz technology out there. We have farmers in the field with the latest and greatest satellite Gps Technology on their equipment. You have to fill out a paper form and hand deliver it to the usda office. We dont have that technology there. We have farmers sitting with autonomous driven tractors and facts in an email. If they want to see us, they have to come to town and stop working. Thats not customer focus more customer friendly. We have the Human Resources to make it possible. I am surprised with our career employees at the usda. Dedicated, we were delighted one week ago to hear our employees are among the top 10 places to work in the federal government, moving up two notches to come in at seventh place. Are customer focused, they mean business for our customers. They make it an even better place to work as we give them the better tools to focus on the customer. Our twitter handle was mentioned, we have a twitter feed secretarysonny. It shows the places we go. You will see some of my most fond people are fha and reach students. Them, theyng around give me inspiration for the future of america and agriculture particularly. We have a lot of fun with them. I said i know most speakers dont tell you to do this, but get out your phone and tweet. Talking aboutets where they were, they were competing, it was fun to see that. I exhorted them to be not only butuctionits, communicators. We dont sit behind our farms and you a great job as american producers do, we have to communicate the story, the greatest story of american agriculture. Thats what we are doing in talking abouteek, those young people with the opportunities to communicate what agriculture is all about. They had wonderful research and water, plant science, soil science, many of the things that are happening that people dont know about. They also have great innovative ideas of how to get the message across and engage and encourage agriculture. Suggested i. S. Institutions in corporate agriculture in their majors because you get all of those things and agriculture. The usdas committed to help the next generation of farmers. We signed an mou with ffa ever committed to a communication development. The future is now. Begin using it and enjoying it. Hopefully you can tell that i love my job. It is a mission, it is a passion for me. Thats why i chose to leave 14 grandchildren in georgia to come for a onceinalifetime opportunity to make a difference from helping rural people prosper, to serving our nations farms, and making sure the usda is large and bold. Americans,e lives of and countless others around the world on a daily basis. I am proud and humbled to serve President Trumps administration, the American People, with that, i want to wish you all a merry christmas. [applause] thank you for speaking with us today, mr. Secretary. We enter the question and answer period of this program. Used to have to go back and forth, now we have two mics. Congratulation on that innovation. We still dont have question cards the member of the audience can pass up. If you haveve questions. You alluded a bit to the people outside of washington for whom usda policies really matter. The usda may matter in many ways, directed to the 40 million americans who use food stamps. You talked about state flexibility within snap. That thein recent days president may be looking at a top to bottom review of the u. S. Social Services Programs of which snap will undoubtedly be included. Are some of the efforts you have on flexibility playing into what this effort could be . What could you see as changes to under a program in usda president ial top to bottom review . Its speculative to think about. The president and his team are looking at welfare reforms generally. The snap program is included in the farm bill. We will proceed until Something Else comes about. The overall goal i think if you look back, the most informative thing is to look back and read the initial statutory language dealing with the food stamps or supplemental nutrition and its stated in there, this was a temporary supplemental type of thing hopefully guiding and leading people to selfsufficiency in several lines. Thats what most American People the American People are generous, they are compassionate, they want to help people when they are down. I think most American People dont believe if you are able, that should be a problem or a lifestyle. One of the things you will see is the change regarding the ability for ablebodied working adults, or adults without dependence to rely on food stamps continuously. Thats what we are seeing, but i the row is considered of selfsufficiency whether it be the farm bill, the snap program, or the confidence of them to follow. One area that is not speculative is how the farm bill has gone past for the last 40 years. There is a longstanding nutrition advocates who have come to pass this bill. Does significant disruption to the snap program potentially mean a significant role disruption to the farm bill . I think the coalition who has passed the farm bill will maintain and sustain. The change is not necessary a partisan issue. Some people may object, but a Bipartisan Group of people who believe evil body adults without ablebodied adults without dependents shouldnt be nursing from the public forever. I think that will be a provision that will be disruptive to the principles of the combination of the farm bill provisions as well as supplemental nutrition bill. Reports that been the usda has considered allowing states to place nutrition limits on its program, limiting those purchases. What can we see administered to the program on your own watch . I can confirm those requests. We have a couple of waivers submitted regarding limiting the purchase of those types. Its a popular thing in some camps. One usda administers that, where do you draw the line . If one state says you shouldnt have meat, should be able to purchase Animal Protein there, is that appropriate . The things suggested mostly are sugary drinks and salty snacks, those things we deem unhealthy. What about you should not have any products that have genetically engineered products in it . Youal welfare issue, shouldnt have eggs that are not cage free. Pork not produced in this humane provision. Where do you draw the line . Its a slippery slope we have to consider carefully. Turning to other issues, i am monitoring the discussion at npclive. Here is another one farmersfor nafta. Is the communication for farmers and farm groups to withdraw from the accord, should they be worried about that . What role are you playing in white house discussions on the . Where do you join farmers for nafta . I mentioned in this in my remarks, i appreciate the fact that President Trump is a tough negotiator on behalf of america. I like a leader who believes in our nation, its people, its productivity, and we have been places onaken in some some of the agreements we have made, particularly in the enforcement area. Im confident he wont send agreement between canada, u. S. , mexico the benefits the American People, producers. While there may be anxiety on the way, i think his negotiating style is right in line with what we can expect to be a great nafta 2 that will benefit American Farmers and producers. All in all, you seem to be getting along with the president , especially compared with some of the colleagues he has tangled with publicly. Can you discuss with how you communicate with him, especially when you potentially disagree or have different perspectives on issues . He loves me. The president is an interesting person. You see the public persona. I think he benefits. One of the things i appreciate about President Trump is directive and his forceful as is,ct and as forceful as he he has the essence of a great leader. He always leaves a backdoor open for comments that he takes into consideration and is willing to change his mind on that. This often, but we were invited to have lunch with him yesterday. He mentioned he was very proud of the fact he drafted the withdraw masto agreement. I came in and showed him about what had been done, and how nafta benefited he relented, and changed his mind. Thats the essence of a good leader. I like to be forceful, i like to have a vision. I like to know where i am going to. But i always have to listen to the back. I found that to be true of the president. I dont think he wants a sycophant as a secretary. He wants me to give him my best counsel, my best advice, he wants me to be right about that. He has High Expectations and frankly im challenged by those High Expectations. What will you be counseling him on regarding the renewable fuel standard . Understanding the usda does not impact that standard, that it is important to farmers. Ted cruz put a hold on one of your nominees. Bill marcy of iowa leading to northey. Freebill what would your counsel be to the president on this issue, especially given hes talking to folks like ted cruz, who believe there should be reductions in the rss . The president made a commitment to the people in the renewable fuel standard. I think the phrase was dont mess with rfs. Toreiterated that and senator grassley, senator ernst, senator daly fisher about his commitment to that. He did as well last week with senator cruz and another group of senators there that were particularly concerned about the prices. The president understands we have to do something about rent prices. Re a winwin in your grade there is a winwin in here. Are not in ite for the ring prices, they are in it for the volume, renewable volume over ethanol production. We have to figure out, we are working this week with the people. Senator cruz and others, to help resolve the prices that some to believe very speculative and cornering on the market that has damaged the refiners. , andefiners to flourish more refinery based on our new petroleum supplies and natural resources. He articulated to those noncenter those senators that he will continue the rfs program. I think the numbers that administrator pruitt it out last week. We helped to be part of the solution of the concern for the refiners over ring prices. Item is almost certainly the upcoming farm bill. How closely have you been in consultation with the congressional agriculture committees on the farm bill . Yourmay you be providing own administrative language on . We are consultants to the ag committees as they desire. We will be as handsoff or handson as they choose for us to be. I think they understand the litany of visits, that we have information what farmers believe i have worked and not work. They are willing to share that. We will be releasing what we think is the appropriate dance between the usda and congress. I dont think its the responsibility of the usda to write a farm bill. I dont think its the responsibility to be handsoff. We will give rock principles that we think should be in raw principles we think should be included in the farm bill. We will do a deep dive based on the facts and the data we have two support to our view over those principles. Ill give you a metaphor of what athink a bill should contain, good safety net for producers. If you think about what a safety net is, think about going to the circus and looking at a high wire act. Net isnk about if the under the wire, theres not much thrill. If its on a concrete floor, you can get hurt. The balance is to have it in the right area where there is risk in farming, farmers dont mind risk, they just dont want to cror e farm if the if the crops or the weather comes in and destroys their equity. Feel free to bring in and submit questions. Please write legibly. Heres one from the audience dealing with insurance crop insurance. Usda going to do with 1. 4 billion it seems to be saving for preventive planting. You are referring maybe to or the of purchase planting. Preventive if you can help me find that 1. 4 billion, i would like to know where it is. Whoever wrote the question, only where the 1. 4 billion is and i will tell you what we do with it. Another question dealing with the farm bill and funding for agriculture programs. International agriculture development. The u. S. Has been a leader in supporting and developing world farmer supporting developing world farmers. How does that vision of helping developing world farmers sit with the president s America First vision and more competitive agricultural landscape . It fits with his vision. We probably have some persuasion. He doesnt need to understand what the opportunities are for investment in our landgrant and developing farmer perspective. Ive told the president face to face, if American Manufacturing sic the same level of ba research in agriculture, applied research and agriculture, and Delivery System like Extension Service, i dont think we will be talking about the demise of American Manufacturing. Of Extension Service and landgrant universities, along with three church services, i believe its a great with research services, i think its a great productivity. Its exhibit a of what has meant to American Farmers. Discussing an issue that has certainly come up, though beard crisis. In a unified the opioid crisis. The Farmers Union released the results of a survey on farmer opioid addiction, which showed startling numbers. A farmer is three times more an addiction. T what are the these are two numbers. Numbers. True this is why we have charged a director to develop a cooperative program with other agencies and the federal government. We dont want to throw money unnecessarily, the weather it be treatment centers, helping in rural communities, this is an addiction that is just as rampant in world areas as it is in suburban and urban areas. Secretary bill second comey earlier that told me earlier this was something they worked on. Iss any drug addiction that noticeable, it takes a lot of things. Improving economy will help in the hope and diminish much of the despair that leads to certain the Prescription Drug addiction leading to open addiction. Month, the Trump Administration will be one year old. You were the last cabinet secretary to be sworn in. The pace of hiring at the usda has not necessarily been at the pace that you would like to see. Have some reinforcements arriving, but there are positions open. One of them is the position for research and education. Withdrew. Rse later what progress is the administration making to name the nominee for this post and will this person have a deep scientific background . Good progress, yes. Expand. Rms of to clovisinly, dr. Withdrawal we are looking across the United States for the best person with a scientific background the blows away the committee, that can have no questions about that. Academic can be a comfortable environment. There are not many people do want to leave a good home in academia to come to a political position. We think there are people out that we are looking at that would make great chief scientists for the department of agriculture. How comfortable are you feeling it usda . What is your big goal for the next year . I am feeling good. Year, the year after, to be the most effective, efficient, customer focused, and the best managed federal agency you have ever seen. We are going to be judged by you. Thank you for speaking to us, secretary perdue. Were not done with you, yet. Please do not be seated. Tradition, we give this to all of our speakers. We hope this be the first of several you can receive. Some people get entire sets of this by the time they are out of office. This is the esteemed prize National Press club mug. [applause] we are still not done with you, we have final announcements, and the other tradition which is our final question. Before we conclude the program with our final question. Want to know an upcoming headliners event we dont want you to miss. Walter isaacson, former editor of time and german of cnn. The president ever talk to you about cnn . Never heard of it. I have reasons to get along president. Walter isaacson, the former editor of time and cnn chairman will be discussing his new book leonardo da vinci. Even though i went to university of georgia, i have heard of him. On december 18. For more details, lees go to the National Press club website. One of the things we try to do organizationr which is elected a new president. As well as all of the other folks who are officeholders and having this challenging time for journalism. One of the things we like to do is stay timely and look to current events. You are a former governor of georgia. Understanding all states are not the same, i have learned this many times over the years. There is a pretty poor intellection going gone one state to your left, in alabama. Handicap theu to race, but as a state official who ran the stay in the southeast for two terms. What are your thoughts in terms of how in the president political environment, local and state will getnationalized. When voters are going into the book today, homages this inattention want thats how much is this attention went to matter . Could it result in alabama need to relation . I think probably more than we think. Its probably that washington bubble versus the outside. Im not sure a lot of evil thinking about the consequences. As a former governor having run twice, i am a big believer in the ballot box. I think alabamians are going to vote for what they think is in their best interest. Partners here today that we see this in president ial off ears. President obama, we didnt see any transfer in the off years. Just the opposite in that regard. I dont think theres a lot of nationalization, even though the press, yall of to write about that. I dont think when the voter goes in the voting booth that they think about the nationalization or what it means to President Trump. When it means to president obama prayed i think they are bouldering for what they believe i think they voted for what they believe. Whats again, offer a round of applause for our speaker, the secretary of agriculture. [applause] and thank you so much for being here today at the National Press club luncheon. Coming back for this special event with our secretary of agriculture, again, i think the members of our team responsible for this event, and also once again, dont forget forget to not miss walter isaacson. One of going to be the last luncheons of this year. Check out the events in the calendar for next year. Once again, on behalf of the National Press club, todays meeting of the National Press club is adjourned. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] announcer when Congress Returns to capitol hill next week, the house is expected to vote tuesday on the tax reform bill. The senate vote is possible on wednesday. Also on the agenda, work on continued funding through the 2018 fiscal year. Current funding runs out friday, december 22. Plus the house live on cspan, the senate on cspan2. Before heading to camp david, President Trump made brief remarks to reporters on tax reform. Pres. Trump