Des Moines Register
Already the second-longest-serving U.S. secretary of agriculture, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack began an unprecedented return engagement Tuesday as the Senate confirmed his nomination to the post in the Biden administration.
The 92-7 vote places Vilsack back in the office he occupied from 2009 to 2017 under then-President Barack Obama. U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, both Iowa Republicans, voted for Vilsack's confirmation.
Vilsack's "deep knowledge of agriculture and rural America is needed now more than ever," U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said Tuesday before the Senate voted. "Our farmers, our families, our rural communities have so many challenges right now."