Receive OKAgPolicy Today in your inbox each weekday morning! Sign up here.
ICYMI: FARM BUREAU BACKS OKLAHOMA AG PRUITT FOR EPA:
Family farmers and ranchers from across the country overwhelmingly supported the confirmation of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting last week [OKAgPolicy].
TOP HEADLINES
The Road Ahead: Guymon, home to a rural rebirth, awaits era of Donald Trump:
But following a contentious presidential election where immigration was a central theme, many of Guymon’s nonwhite residents are anxiously awaiting the presidency of Donald Trump, who launched his campaign on a call for sweeping deportation, enhanced border security and a general hostility toward immigration, especially from Mexico [NewsOK].
Pruitt on cusp of ‘big leagues’:
On Wednesday, Pruitt will face the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works for a confirmation hearing that won’t be easy but is almost certain to ultimately go his way. It is a remarkable rise for a former two-term state senator whose career could have ended with that 2006 lieutenant governor’s campaign [Tulsa World].
TRUMP TRANSITION
Vilsack exits USDA week early, Trump promises nominee ‘soon’:
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack left office Friday, one week ahead of President Obama. A spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump said a nominee to succeed Vilsack would be named “some time soon” [Agri-Pulse].
Trump eyes role of negotiator-in-chief:
Donald Trump is signaling that he will take a hands-on approach to trade policy, placing himself in the role of negotiator-in-chief [The Hill].
CONGRESS
Conaway names House Ag subcommittee chairs for 115th Congress:
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway has tapped Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., to head up the panel’s Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry in the 115th Congress. Lucas was chairman of the Agriculture Committee from 2011-2015 [Agri-Pulse].
What an Obamacare repeal would mean for rural hospitals:
Scott Simon speaks with Maggie Elehwany of the National Rural Health Association about a possible Obamacare repeal. She supports the law, but says the way it was implemented has hurt rural hospitals [NPR].
MISCELLANEOUS
High court to decide where WOTUS case should be heard:
The Supreme Court will decide whether the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals was right to assert jurisdiction over legal challenges to the “waters of the U.S.” rule [Agri-Pulse].
Is bigger safer?:
Yes, there has been consolidation in agriculture. Yes, when a large firm has a food safety event, it affects more people. But, what we don’t know is whether, overall, a food system with many smaller firms is safer than one with fewer larger firms [Jayson Lusk Blog].
Trump meets with Princeton physicist who says global warming is good for us:
In 2015 Senate testimony, Happer argued that the “benefits that more [carbon dioxide] brings from increased agricultural yields and modest warming far outweigh any harm” [Washington Post].
