Bush Picks Ex-Governor to Head the Farm Team

Schafer could overhaul way Agricultural Department does business
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 31, 2007 9:25 PM CDT
Bush Picks Ex-Governor to Head the Farm Team
Agriculture Secretary-designate Edward Schafer speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)   (Associated Press)

Edward Schafer has extolled the virtues of smaller government, but he is President Bush’s nominee to head the mammoth Agriculture Department, which employs more than 100,000 people and spends $90 billion a year. If approved by the Senate, the former North Dakota governor would likely be thrust into tense negotiations over a new farm bill, the New York Times reports.

Congress supports the legislation, but Bush hopes to trim the $288 billion that the bill would dole out to farm programs over the next five years. While governor, Schafer said, “Smaller government is every bit as visionary as adding a whole bunch of new programs.” Schafer is the grandson of Danish immigrant farmers, and he gained extensive agricultural experience in farm-heavy North Dakota. (More farmer stories.)

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