OKAgPolicy Today is a morning email containing the day’s top agriculture and policy headlines. The inclusion of a particular story does not equal an endorsement. Subscribe to the email here.
TOP HEADLINES
Oklahoma legislators take oath of office:
Members of the Oklahoma Senate and House of Representatives took their oath of office on Wednesday, promising to uphold the Constitution and not take any illegal compensation [The Oklahoman].
GOP braces for Trump’s $1T infrastructure push:
Republicans in Congress appear ready to embrace President-elect Donald Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure proposal — at least for now [The Hill].
FEDERAL
House panel wraps up two-year SNAP review amid discord:
The House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday wrapped up its long-running examination of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Now, the lawmakers must decide how to use the information gleaned from the hearings as they begin to draft a new farm bill [Agri-Pulse].
Huelskamp says he’s interested in becoming Trump’s ag secretary:
Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp expressed interest in becoming agriculture secretary in the Trump administration and said he has talked to “people in the room” with the transition [Agri-Pulse].
In Senate, no surprises in leadership:
Senate Republicans re-elected Mitch McConnell on Wednesday to be majority leader next year while Democrats picked Chuck Schumer to lead them, setting the chief actors as the chamber prepares for an agenda that will be dominated by Donald Trump and the GOP [The Oklahoman].
STATE
Teacher pay raise on the minds of new and returning lawmakers:
A teacher pay raise was on the minds of many of the new and recently re-elected lawmakers who were sworn into office Wednesday, the 109th anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood [Tulsa World].
Oklahoma Farm Bureau announces members of inaugural OKFB Caucus:
Comprised of Farm Bureau-members in the state legislature, the OKFB Caucus is a non-partisan group created to foster fellowship and discussion of agricultural and rural policy issues [OKFB].
MISCELLANEOUS
Internal documents show U.S. chicken prices may have been artificially inflated for years:
As director of a bulletin from the Georgia Department of Agriculture, Schronce makes a weekly calculation that gives supermarkets around the country the going rate for a pound of chicken. But has it been accurate? [Washington Post]
Does cage-free mean a better life for chickens?:
As a philosophy professor who’s worked on food issues for my entire career, I’ve come to believe that questions of animal welfare are more complicated than they seem at first glance. It’s not a clear choice which of the possible living conditions for egg-laying hens — enriched cages, cage-free systems, free-range setups — serve them the best [CNN].
