Watchdogs to Senate: Oppose Sam Clovis at USDA
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A coalition of 54 farming, food, consumer and environmental organizations and companies today delivered a letter to Senators, voicing their strong opposition to Sam Clovis’ nomination to be the Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics at the US Department of Agriculture.
As Undersecretary, Clovis would serve as the Department’s chief scientist, despite his lack of science credentials and policy experience required by the 2008 Farm Bill.
Kendra Klein, Staff Scientist at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:
Clovis’ nomination is an affront to America’s farmers and citizens who deserve a healthy, resilient food system. Trump’s pick of an unqualified climate-denying, extreme right-wing talk show host with no credible science or agriculture background is a direct attack on science. Scientists at the USDA deserve a leader equipped to understand the complex challenges they work on every day. Sam Clovis is not that person.
Navina Khanna, Director of the HEAL (Health Environment Agriculture Labor) Food Alliance, issued the following statement:
The Office of the Chief Scientist of the USDA is responsible for coordinating science to inform policies and decisions that impact all aspects of our food and agriculture system. Mr. Clovis has no scientific background that would qualify him for this position – he is a talk show host who claims that climate science is junk science, and he opposes sound immigration policy, despite the fact that much our agriculture and food economy are largely dependent on migrant labor.
Expert contact: Kendra Klein, (510) 900-3140, [email protected]
Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]
Neshani Jani, [email protected]