Editor’s Note: We are introducing a short series of articles in the next few issues of Cotton News detailing the Representatives and Senators serving on the House Agriculture Committee, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and the House Ag Appropriations and Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittees.This issue will feature the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations. This subcommittee will be referred to as “Ag Appropriations” through the rest of the article. This subcommittee is tasked with writing legislation that allocates federal funds to government agencies, departments and organizations for the agriculture industry.
Part 2: Agriculture Appropriations
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), House Ag Appropriations Chair
• Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010.
• Johns Hopkins Hospital physician
• Medical officers in the Naval Reserve
• Served 12 years as a state Senator for Maryland (elected in 1998)· House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Sanford Bishop Jr. (DGA) House Ag Appropriations Ranking Member
• Elected to the House of Representatives in 1993
• Prior to his current appointment, Bishop was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1977, moving to the Georgia Senate in 1990
• Was one of four democrats on the House Ag Committee to vote in favor of the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024” (farm bill) authored by Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) in May 2024
• Served in the U.S. Army·
• Ran a law firm in Georgia prior to government work