Former U.S. Congresswoman Yvette Herrell from New Mexico was nominated in August by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to be Assistant Secretary of the Office of Congressional Relations.
Herrell served in the New Mexico Legislature from 2011 to 2018 and was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020. She served on the Natural Resources Committee, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
In 2023-24, Herrell worked closely with ASL in opposing the 700,000-acre expansion of Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge in the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico.
Herrell stated in an op-ed about the expansion: “It will eliminate a portion of every local community tax base, reduce oil and mineral production in our state, and cheat private property owners out of future economic opportunities on the lands they have lived and worked on – in some cases for generations.”
She is an excellent choice by the USDA to be a liaison between Congress and the Department because of her extensive knowledge, experience and background on private property and problems associated with federal lands.
