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Say “No” To Tom “Mr. Monsanto” Vilsack As Sec. of Agriculture

Jan 25, 2021

In solidarity,

Mike Fox for the PDA National Team

 

Tell Congress To Say “No” To Vilsack  

 

Tom Vilsack, aka “Mr. Monsanto,” served corporate interests for eight years as Secretary of Agriculture under President Obama and continued to do so as head of one of the largest U.S. dairy lobbies after leaving office. 

Now, with Vilsack as the nominee for the same position under President Biden, we have disturbing insight into how bad the situation is likely to be at USDA with Vilsack again at the helm. There is still time to stop his confirmation, but we must act now. 

Two quick things you can do to stop his confirmation: 

  1. Click here to send an email to your Senators urging them to REJECT Vilsack and vote NO on his nomination. You can send a prewritten message or write your own.

  2. Sign up for our upcoming ACTION party! RootsAction.org is hosting an online Cabinet Update and Calling Party this Thursday, January 28, at 5 PM Pacific / 8 PM Eastern. We will be calling our Senators and urging them to vote NO on Vilsack and a few of Biden’s other worrisome nominees. 

We at PDA are working in coalition with RootsAction, Food & Water Watch, and The Zero Hour to vigorously organize the opposition to the Vilsack nomination.

Why do we need to reject Tom Vilsack? 

Tom Vilsack is in the pocket of “Big Ag.” As Agriculture Secretary he repeatedly capitulated to corporate interests over the needs of workers and small farmers. Vilsack ushered through a spineless GMO labeling standard rubber stamped by Big Ag, and sped up the approval process for genetically modified crops. He allowed the meat industry to further monopolize—squeezing out small farmers—and scaled back oversight of poultry processing plants, permitting them to effectively self-regulate and thereby endangering food and worker safety. Immediately after leaving his post at the USDA in 2016, Vilsack became CEO of one of the largest U.S. dairy lobbies.

Tom Vilsack also has an egregious record on matters of civil rights. At the end of his tenure as USDA secretary, Vilsack proudly claimed to have presided over a “New Era for Civil Rights at the USDA,” but—according to the numerous civil rights groups and associations of Black farmers angered by his recent nomination—the truth was quite the opposite. An extensive two-year investigation by The Counter revealed that Vilsack’s USDA misrepresented data to minimize persisting disparities and discrimination against Black farmers to deceptively portray its civil rights record in a positive light.

Email your Senators and urge them to vote NO on Vilsack for Secretary of Agriculture.

And if you can afford it, a contribution of any amount will go a long way toward supporting this work. Please chip in here. 

10 Comments

  1. Brian J Krysinski

    Damnrite!

  2. Susan Vaughan

    Ditto!

  3. Laura L Lee

    Monsanto has been considered the worlds most hated corporation for the poisoning and gmo of our food supply that’s involved in destroying our health through contamination of our soil while backing big Agra.

    It’s horrifying, I vote No and absolute No to mr Villsack.

  4. Pogo Saito

    Putting Monsanto in charge of agriculture is no different than Trump putting a big oil exec in charge of the environment.

    It’s grotesque level corporate corruption.
    Unacceptable!!!!!
    He’s part of the agricultural monopoly

  5. Kamilah Harris

    I vote NO on Vilsack. Farmers and agricultural activists of color were not treated well during his first post under Obama. There is no need for Biden to hand him a second chance to screw America’s agriculture and leave us in the situations we are now with Covid being a reality affecting the private and public sectors of agriculture work and provisions.

  6. Joy Bunton

    Biden never should have nominated Vilsack. He should have listened to NAACP’s Derrick Johnson about Blacks in Georgia being strongly against Vilsack, especially when they turned out to help Biden win Georgia. No honeymoon for Biden, please oppose Vilsack! Thanks.

    • Laurel P.

      This big Ag, corporate, Monsanto shill will cause horrific environmental destruction. His huge pesticide/Roundup support of the past was harmful and atrocious! He discriminated against black farmers. Please say “No.”

  7. Nicole

    NOOOO!

  8. carole edelsky

    Mr. Monsanto as Sec of Agriculture? how about Mr. Death as Sec of Health? sheeeeeess!

  9. Lee Stacie

    Shame on Biden and Dem leadership!

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