33 



The Chairman. Mr. Glickman. 



Mr. Glickman. First of all, Mike, it is a pleasure to have you 

 here. You're going to have to put up with Pat Roberts as the rank- 

 ing minority member of this committee. His bark is really worse 

 than his bite. He is a very affable soul. As I am going off for 2 

 years to try to get a little more intelligent so that I can come back 

 and do a better job on this committee than I have before. But Pat 

 and I will still be around to monitor this. 



One thing we do hope is that you can get out to the Midwest, to 

 the heartland, as quickly as possible. You may get invitations into 

 Kansas City or other areas, but we want you out there to talk with 

 wheat farmers and corn farmers in the heartland. We will be talk- 

 ing more about that as time goes on. 



I would also like to say, just listening to you I am very im- 

 pressed. I think this Department has needed somebody in the Sec- 

 retary's office with a big picture view. This is more than just a 

 farmers' Department, although it is the farmers' Department. But 

 it is also the consumers' Department and the rural Americans' De- 

 partment. For some time, I have even thought we need to change 

 the name of the Agency to the Department of Agriculture and 

 Food Policy, or the Department of Food and Agriculture. 



As the chairman talks about so much, in the submarine story 

 you can stay on the submarine so long as there is food. I take it 

 that you have the right perspective on the function of the Depart- 

 ment. 



The Department is an embattled Department. There are an 

 awful lot of people who would like to minimize its function and 

 maybe squeeze some of those functions and move them into other 

 agencies. If we have a Secretary like yourself who shows that he is 

 a big picture Secretary, and not excessively parochial, even though 

 you still have to recognize that the farmers' interests are para- 

 mount — I think that is a real important thing. I am really delight- 

 ed that you are starting down that road. 



Quite frankly, I think that is something your predecessors didn't 

 do as much as they should have. I think it is an important thing 

 for you to do. I am glad you said it. 



Secretary Espy. Thank you. 



I am concerned that there are those who might want to pick this 

 Department to death and pick off certain parts and certain func- 

 tions. For instance, yesterday we talked about the food safety as- 

 pects. There are those who want to pick off our food safety function 

 and transfer it over to the Food and Drug Administration. There 

 are some who want to pick off our ability to manage forests and 

 chuck it off to the Interior Department. There are those who want 

 to pick off our food nutrition functions and give it over to Health 

 and Human Services. 



We should expect some turf battles and some turf problems as 

 my predecessors have had to face. But I would say to you honestly 

 that I had a chance to go to Camp David this weekend with the 

 rest of the Cabinet Secretaries and the senior White House staff. 

 We talked about how to operate as a team, how to lay out on a 

 sheet of paper the top six, seven, or eight of President Clinton's 

 programs and how to work together to implement these programs 

 across the range of our Cabinet divisions with less of any chance to 



