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President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, to oversee the Department of Agriculture, one of the most sprawling federal agencies. ... As the new head of USDA she would oversee nearly 100,000 employees, and would oversee the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which makes up over half of its nutrition budget, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and school meal regulation. She would be the second woman to lead the department, following Ann Veneman who served under President George W. Bush. (Bustillo, 11/23)

While Congress determines much of the department’s funding levels in the farm bill, the incoming secretary exerts great influence over federal food policy. Under the Biden administration, the department, led by Tom Vilsack, has prompted the largest-ever permanent increase in food stamp benefits, strengthened antitrust rules in the meatpacking sector and invested billions in regenerative or so-called climate-smart farming practices. (Qiu, 11/23)

President-elect Donald Trump selected motivational speaker and former professional football player Scott Turner of the America First Policy Institute to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, offering him a pivotal role in an area that has become one of Americans’ biggest concerns. ... As HUD chief, he would likely seek to slash the department’s funding, reverse Biden-era fair housing policies and overhaul homelessness programs, all goals laid out by the Trump campaign. While Turner’s views on housing issues aren’t clear, the AFPI agenda calls for “addressing the root causes of homelessness” rather than pursuing the “housing first” approach that Democrats favor. (O'Donnell, 11/22)

Turner, 52, is the first Black person selected to be a member of the Republican’s Cabinet. Turner grew up in a Dallas suburb, Richardson, and graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was a defensive back and spent nine seasons in the NFL beginning in 1995, playing for the Washington Redskins, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos. ... Turner joined the Texas House in 2013 as part of a large crop of tea party-supported lawmakers. He tried unsuccessfully to become speaker before he finished his second term in 2016. He did not seek a third term. Trump introduced Turner in April 2019 as the head of the new White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. Trump credited Turner with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” (Licon, 11/23)

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are interviewing job candidates and seeking advice from experts in Washington and Silicon Valley — pushing a sweeping vision for the “Department of Government Efficiency” past the realm of memes and viral posts into potential real-world disruption. Tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead an advisory panel to find “drastic” cuts to the federal government, the billionaire “DOGE” leaders have spent the past week in Washington and at Mar-a-Lago, seeking staff and interviewing seasoned Washington operators, legal specialists and top tech leaders, according to five people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations. (Dwoskin, Stein, Bogage and Siddiqui, 11/24)