Department of Agriculture - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Department of Agriculture Index / Organizations Transcripts Katie McCormick Lelyveld ...Sam Kass appointed the liaison to the Department of Agriculture there, or how did that work? He ha... Rajiv Shah ...were appointed as undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture [USDA] in 2009. When you completed tha... ...of the Department of Agriculture [ USDA ] in 2009. When you completed tha... ...economics, and chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture . In the way these things work, I said... ...work on this issue when you're at the Department of Agriculture . But the idea was that we should b... ...of things. Not just when I was at USDA . I mean, one of the beauties of To... ...even though I was no longer at USDA at that time. Yes, he seems like a... ...[laughter] . No. As part of being at USDA , I got to know President Obama, an... ...when I was still at the US Department of Agriculture —I was the chief scientist and th... ...my tenure at USAID, backed by the Department of Agriculture , the White House, and Congress on ... Show more... Josh DuBois ...food and hunger and nutrition issues at USDA [United States Department o... ...nutrition issues at USDA [United States Department of Agriculture ], etc. So we had to staff up each o... ...local congregations partner with the USDA food program to offer meals during th... ...of evaluation metrics. For example, at USDA the summer feeding initiative, it woul... ...issue by issue, we saw an impact. At USDA , we made a dent in the number of kid... Debra Eschmeyer ...from the Department of Interior to the USDA [United States Department o... ...of Interior to the USDA [United States Department of Agriculture ], to the Department of Defense. W... ...together with a list of what can the USDA do? Let's put a no-cost ask, let's pu... ...to School job descriptions to these USDA regional leads, so they can suppor... ...these simple to-do lists for the USDA , I started making trips to DC once ... ...going to DC once a month, meeting with USDA , meeting with the White House Offic... ...Corps, but after meeting with the USDA and AmeriCorps we found out that yo... ...Human Services] continues to do, and USDA continues to do. Then looking truly... ...were regular conversations with the USDA , with stakeholders, really making sur... ...back in time a little bit? In June 2009 USDA published a long report on Access t... ...standards being stripped back by the USDA , not by Congress.” This is by USDA... ...the USDA, not by Congress.” This is by USDA . These are administrative actions... ...actually seventy-five percent of the USDA budget. Yes, it used to be forty-fiv... ...it's probably back up again. But the USDA has a 150 billion dollar budget, ... ...general are seventy-five percent of the USDA budget. We get so absorbed into all o... ...Agency for International Development]? USDA , you mean? USADA. Yes, that's what ... ...mean? USADA. Yes, that's what I meant, USDA . Yes. At the time of th... ...worked hand in hand with the folks at USDA . We had Secretary Vilsack, who wa... ...is from the FDA to HHS to USDA , Department of Interior, Department o... ...MyPlate study [Healthy Eating Plate vs. USDA 's MyPlate]. Could you talk about tha... ...through the administration, through USDA , and through the executive branch... ...like, that's why it's like with those USDA standards, why we have to make sur... ...different offices, for example, in the USDA where there was this SNAP onlin... ...SNAP online via Amazon or Walmart. The USDA moved so quickly in the last six month... ...these fabulous marketing budgets. The USDA , FDA—the FDA does not have a budge... ...especially under Tom Vilsack at the USDA . He was the longest standing Cabine... ...Obama administration was running the USDA —was making sure we had all thos... ...to the White House Rural Council to the USDA , HHS, FDA, you name it. We'd b... ...with the various nutrition staff at USDA and with key Senate and House staffer... ...be really fortunate if I had HHS or USDA , and so I would make sure I had ... ...Anyway, I worked really closely with USDA because of the work that we were doin... ...experts that are—oh my gosh, from FNS [ USDA Food and Nutrition Service] to A... ...about your relationship with Tom at the Department of Agriculture and some of the negotiations an... ...my husband also worked for him in the USDA . He was one of his special assistant... ...complexity of an actual agency like the USDA . It's a 150 billion dollar entity, bu... ...to uphold when I'm talking about the USDA .” He really did do an incredible jo... ...we would bring in someone from either USDA or HHS or Office of Science an... Show more... Jocelyn Frye ...were your discussions like with the Agriculture Department ? How did you work with Ag, fo... ...the entire time. We worked with the Department of Agriculture early on, across many of the agencies... ...to the different issues, including the Department of Agriculture , and thinking through, what are som... ...this work would end up sitting with the Department of Agriculture . So our—at least my—interactions wit... Michael Strautmanis ...House liaison who was connected to the Department of Agriculture about this incident, this issue, thi... Al Sharpton ...And I remember they were blasting the Agriculture Department firing her—that's in the White House... Beverly Daniel Tatum ...the National Science Foundation or the Department of Agriculture . All of these agencies have money tha... ...let's say, from the head of the Department of Agriculture or some representative of th... ...or some representative of the Department of Agriculture . It usually wouldn't have been th... James Clyburn ...hell bent on appointing Vilsack to Ag [ Department of Agriculture ]. I sat down with Vilsack, and I tol... ...of Commerce, and 3.5 billion into the Department of Agriculture . So it goes over to the Senate. I... ...able to do what you want done, but the Department of Agriculture 's portfolio is rural,” and I wante... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Arts and Humanities Arts and Humanities go to the Gun Control Gun Control go to the Veterans Veterans go to the Republican Opposition Republican Opposition go to the Transparency and Media Transparency and Media