Interesting news...................
Jane Clark

Associated Press
Tuesday, October 9, 2001

Senate Delays Nominee Consideration
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate committee has delayed indefinitely consideration
of an Agriculture Department nominee who has been criticized for remarks
regarding minorities and the benefits of large-scale farming.

The Senate Agriculture Committee canceled a confirmation hearing for
appointee Thomas Dorr in late September because some witnesses were unable
to travel to Washington, aides said.

Now, the committee is going to work on an extensive revision of farm and
nutrition programs and won't consider the Dorr nomination until that work is
done, Seth Boffeli, a spokesman for the committee's chairman, Sen. Tom
Harkin, D-Iowa, said Tuesday.

"There really hasn't been any effort to string it out," Boffeli said Tuesday
of the confirmation process. Harkin "wants to move forward and have a
hearing on Dorr and let him have a chance to tell his side of the story but
at the same time our priority has to be the farm bill."

Depending how long the Senate stays in session this fall, consideration of
Dorr could be delayed until next year, Boffeli said.

Dorr, an Iowa farmer, was nominated in March to be USDA's undersecretary for
rural development. He once observed that an economically prosperous area of
his state lacked ethnic and religious diversity. He also has suggested
creating giant farming operations in which individual farmers would work
together.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has defended Dorr as a "visionary
thinker." White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Tuesday that President
Bush stands behind the nomination.

The Senate committee could begin work as early as next week on some
relatively noncontroversial sections of its farm bill. The House approved
legislation last week that would extend farm subsidies through 2011 and
expand conservation programs.

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