By Catharine Richert

A Senate confirmation hearing has been scheduled Jan. 24 for former North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer, President Bush’s nominee to be the next secretary of Agriculture.

The Agriculture Committee hearing, which will come two days after the Senate returns to work for the second session of the 110th Congress, is expected to be both swift and amicable, according to aides and lawmakers.

Bush tapped Schafer on Oct. 31 to succeed former Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns , who resigned as secretary Sept. 20 to run for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Chuck Hagel . Schafer, a Republican, served as North Dakota’s governor from 1992-2000.

Senators from both parties generally welcomed the pick, saying Schafer appears well qualified to head the USDA.

Deputy Secretary Charles F. Conner has been running the department since Johanns left, dealing with lawmakers from both chambers who are in the midst of writing a $286 billion overhaul of farm policy (HR 2419). The White House has threatened to veto the measure, contending both the House and Senate versions fail to make needed changes to the farm subsidy system.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson , D-Minn., says that Schafer understands agriculture in the upper Midwest, where subsidies and drought aid are considered vital. Both have drawn criticism from the administration.

The Senate version of the farm bill would establish a new $5.1 billion disaster trust fund that Dakotans have long sought, and both the House and Senate measures keep the current mix of farm subsidies intact.

Peterson says that Shafer’s perspective on such matters will be important as lawmakers negotiate with the White House over the final version of the five-year bill.

Conner, the behind-the-scenes architect of the administration’s farm bill proposal, will likely remain deeply involved in the House-Senate conference of the bill.

No date has been set for a vote on Schafer’s nomination, a Senate committee aide said. But North Dakota’s two senators, Democrats Kent Conrad and Byron L. Dorgan , are pushing for a speedy confirmation.

“It is a special honor to have someone from North Dakota nominated to serve in the president’s Cabinet,” Dorgan said in a statement Friday. “We look forward to the confirmation process beginning, and to supporting his nomination.”

Conrad, a senior member of the Agriculture Committee, said Schafer had mentioned that “it’d be nice” if he could be confirmed in time to attend Bush’s Jan. 28 State of the Union address as a member of the president’s Cabinet. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Conrad noted, so he called Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin , D-Iowa, “and the chairman was gracious enough to agree to an earlier hearing date.”

Dorgan and Conrad will introduce Schafer to the committee when its hearing is held Jan. 24.