USDA Official to Visit Oklahoma on Thursday

Kathleen Merrigan, deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is scheduled to make a national funding announcement in Kingfisher on Thursday morning and talk about the administration’s economic development efforts in rural America.
Merrigan will make the announcement at the Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, which has received stimulus funding to expand broadband Internet service.
Kingfisher is in the district of Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, who has been harshly critical of the administration’s policies in regard to farm programs and rural development.
In the afternoon, Merrigan is having lunch with the students at Will Rogers Elementary School in Shawnee, where she’ll talk about the administration’s drive to improve child nutrition and reduce obesity.