Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) delivered the following closing statement at a full committee hearing for the purpose of receiving testimony from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Watch the hearing here.

[As prepared for delivery.]

We have heard a lot from the secretary today. A lot of excuses. A lot of looking in the rearview mirror after one and a half years of total Republican leadership in Washington.

The lack of accountability or ownership of this administration’s failures is truly stunning. And worse – we are going to be right back where we are today in a year if the administration continues down the same path.

Madam Secretary, I have farmers coming to Capitol Hill who, in the privacy of our meetings, tell me that they wish we had a Secretary of Agriculture who would just be straight with them and acknowledge the reality on the ground. They see the same song and dance that everyone got here today, but unlike most people in this room, they then turn to their ledgers, their disappearing margins and their increasing debts and the picture they see does not match the rosy picture painted by the secretary.

They are being crushed by tariffs and high costs. Families in Minnesota and across the country are paying more for groceries each month, and they’re starting to skip meals and buy less because Trump’s policies are eating away at their paychecks.

We have before us an agriculture secretary who is giving a wonderful performance for a reality TV president – a performance that is scripted, rehearsed and disingenuous. A performance that falls flat, because it is not based on anything real, but based on what she thinks the president wants to hear.

All Americans – including farmers and working families - just want the Trump administration to be straight with them and focus on policies that help alleviate their financial pain – not make it worse.

And with that Mr. Chairman, I yield back.