Harkin praises Vilsack at hearing, gets praise back
May 07, 2014 | 05:04 PM
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is retiring at the end of this term, took the opportunity at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing today to praise Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa Democratic governor, for his public service.
Harkin noted that he has known Vilsack for 30 years and that he considers him to be “responsible and results-oriented.”
Harkin also said he has personally appreciated the secretary’s work on conservation and rural energy.
Vilsack returned the compliment, noting that it is impossible to talk about conservation “without talking about Tom Harkin.”
Harkin left to attend a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which he chairs. At that hearing, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said, “It saddens me to acknowledge that this will be the last LHHS appropriations bill authored by Sen. Harkin.”
“However, it should also inspire us to get the LHHS bill to the Senate floor for the first time in seven years,” she said. “It would be a fitting way to pay tribute to Sen. Harkin, who has either chaired or served as the ranking member of this subcommittee for the past two decades.”
Harkin also served as Senate Agriculture Committee chairman, but left that chairmanship to assume the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
