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 speaker-elect: House Republicans plan budget hearings for state agencies:
These hearings will give lawmakers — particularly the 32 new members of the 101-member House — valuable insight into how agencies develop programs and spend taxpayer dollars, but most importantly, they will give us the ability to develop funding priorities earlier than usual [NewsOK].
Political momentum building to trim tax breaks for wind industry:
A political panel tasked with evaluating state tax incentives voted Tuesday to approve a report that recommended curbing a tax credit used by the wind industry [StateImpact Oklahoma].
STATE
Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt to meet with President-elect Donald Trump on Monday:
Pruitt, a Republican in his sixth year as the state’s attorney general, has challenged Obama administration rules and regulations on the environment, immigration, health care and education in lawsuits, some of which have reached the U.S. Supreme Court [The Oklahoman].
Fallin says Trump visit centered on tribes, Okla. energy industry:
Fallin spoke to reporters about her interview on Monday with Trump and his incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus about the possibility of her accepting a position in Trump’s administration as head of the Interior Department, a federal agency with more than 70,000 employees [Claremore Progress].
FEDERAL
Ex-Im faces new problems with Trump:
The bank’s long-term future hinges on whether President-election Donald Trump and a Republican Congress, which has expressed mixed feelings about the bank’s business dealings, see a future for it. The more than 80-year-old bank helps U.S. exporters sell their goods overseas by providing loans to foreign buyers [The Hill].
Trump: Infrastructure not ‘core’ part of agenda:
The real estate mogul said his $1 trillion infrastructure proposal is “not the core, but it’s an important factor.” “We’re going for a lot of things, between taxes, between regulations, between health care replacement, we’re going to talk repeal and replace,” Trump said, according to a transcript. “So there are a lot of things. But infrastructure … is going to be a part of it” [The Hill].
Fidel Castro’s death could ensure Obama’s opening to Cuba survives:
Obama also vastly increased the number of Americans who can visit, and U.S. businesses that can work on the island. But there is also pressure from U.S. agriculture and tourism sectors to continue with the more relaxed regimen for doing business [LA Times].
MISCELLANEOUS
The urban-rural divide that bolstered Trump isn’t just an American thing; it’s prevalent in Europe, too:
To those who have stayed in rural areas, a feeling of being left behind has replaced the pride of having grown up outside big cities and away from all the problems that are associated with them. That sense of abandonment — the same sentiment that won over Midwest voters to support Donald Trump — overwhelmed the advice of most of Britain’s economic experts and nearly all of the country’s leading politicians during this year’s European Union referendum [Washington Post].
Even mega-farms are mostly family owned:
Even big farms are usually family-owned. Of farms with gross annual sales of $1 million or more, 94 percent are family farms. Of farms with 10,000 acres or more, 86 percent are family businesses [Five Thirty Eight].
