Dear Oklahoma friends and neighbors:
It is almost time for many kids’ favorite week—spring break. Our kids are getting ready for a break from school, and I hope families are able to take a moment to pause and spend some time together. Go have fun with the kids, reconnect, and remember to be grateful for the many blessings we enjoy each and every day. We are at our best when our families are strongest, and Oklahoma is blessed with strong families. Enjoy the warm sunshine as well. We have missed it.
This weekend we switched back to Daylight Saving Time to “spring forward,” which some people say is their least favorite weekend of the year. Moms of young children ask me every year how to make the time changes stop and why we do it in the first place. Time change started a century ago during World War I to help America conserve lamp oil. It is time to end the twice-a-year time change and lock the clock. My bill, the Sunshine Protection Act, overwhelmingly passed the Senate a couple years ago, but the House never even debated the bill to put us in Daylight Saving Time year-round. We will eventually get it passed nationally as more and more people look at Arizona, which ended changing the clock years ago. Somehow their kids in Arizona still get to school on time, economic development occurs, and life continues without the annoying time change twice a year. Until we can get this finally changed, don’t forget to move your microwave clock one hour forward.
CLICK HERE to read more about my bill to lock us into Daylight Saving Time and lock the clock.
The State of the Union Address
The President’s State of the Union speech last Thursday was more of a campaign speech than a State of the Union address. From the very beginning, the address focused on dividing the nation. There is no question we are divided in many ways as a nation, but there was no reason to use the State of the Union address to divide us even further.
He focused on his ongoing push for more socialism in our nation with the narrative that if we just tax the wealthy more, tax big companies more, and give the government more power to give away more money, everything would be great. The President even asked for federal authority to control the number of chips in a bag of chips and the size of a Snickers bar. Most Oklahomans want more freedom from government control, rather than more government control. People know, if the government can control the number of chips in a bag, it can also control everything in their personal life and business.
President Biden encouraged what he calls “reproductive freedom,” the latest euphemism for abortion, which received numerous cheers from the audience. I think it is a sad commentary on our culture when people cheer when a child loses their life. In another moment of division, he spoke about in vitro fertilization (IVF), which has wide bipartisan support in Congress. But he focused on the situation in Alabama, which is carefully being resolved as we speak, as another way to divide us, instead of discussing the value of the lives of all children. Thousands of children, from every state, will be born this year through IVF.
The President brought up the border security proposal I worked on over the past several months. Some of the things he said about the bill were even true. The bill would have added many new Border Patrol agents, ICE agents, asylum officers, deportation flights, and fentanyl detection devices at the border. The bill would have built more border fence, ended the open border parole program, added detention beds, and dramatically increased the speed of deportations by changing the standard for asylum screening.
The bill did not have everything I wanted, but it also did not include any amnesty programs. The myth that the bill allowed 5,000 people in a day is just that, a myth. Under the new rules in the bill, the first person that crossed the border each day and every person after that faced a much tougher asylum standard and rapid deportation to deter the next person from paying a cartel to cross. But if the border was overrun with 5,000 people, like what has happened almost every day this year, the rules tightened even more to give law enforcement new tools to immediately deport every person who illegally crosses our border without any screening.
President Biden conveniently left out the numerous existing legal authorities he has already to better secure our border but refuses to use. If the President would enforce the border the same way President Trump or even President Obama enforced the border, we would not have the chaos we currently have in our nation. Both parties are currently choosing to play election-year politics with our national security by blaming the other party for inaction. We should do everything we can to solve the problem now and allow the election in November to resolve the rest. Inaction when there is danger should not be an option.
CLICK HERE to watch my video reaction after the State of the Union.
WIN: The 45th Infantry, Task Force Tomahawk, Are Home from Africa!
Welcome home, Oklahoma heroes! The Oklahomans of our 45th Infantry deployed to Task Force Tomahawk in the Horn of Africa are finally home with their family and friends!
Cindy and I had the opportunity to visit them in Africa last fall over Veterans Day. Their mission has been the vital task of national security and confronting the growing terrorist threat in Africa. Our nation has learned the hard way that we cannot assume terrorism on the other side of the globe will not affect the homeland.
When we spent time with the returning Thunderbirds of the 45th in Africa, we brought them not only our support and admiration, but also a taste of home through cases of Oklahoma Head Country BBQ sauce and Chick-fil-A sauce provided by the Wounded Warrior Project and an Oklahoma Chick-fil-A store owner. I heard their stories around the tables over meals and from leaders who were incredibly impressed with their excellence and attitude.
As Cindy and I cheered for the Thunderbirds at the homecoming celebrations a week ago, we could not say thank you enough for all their sacrifice to secure our nation. One of our Thunderbirds introduced me to his daughter at one of the homecomings, who was four days old when he left for the Horn of Africa. Nine months later that little girl is safe in her daddy’s arms. If you know a member of our military or National Guard, make sure to thank them for our freedom. You can do that any day of the year.
CLICK HERE to read more about my trip to the Horn of Africa last Fall to visit our 45th Infantry members.
WIN: Federal Programs Inventory Now Available Online
Since my first day in Congress, I have focused on exposing government waste, fraud, and the blatant lack of transparency. A decade ago, when I was in the House of Representatives, Dr. Tom Coburn and I worked together to introduce the Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act to address a simple problem: Congress can’t fix what it can’t see.
We introduced a bill that forced the federal government to actually track what it spends your money on. In 2021, the bill finally passed, and since then my team and I have worked to ensure the federal inventory actually gets done. I am glad to say that the first version of the program inventory is now up and running. You can view it yourself HERE.
This is a huge step for ending government waste and allowing the American people to see how their tax dollars are spent. For the first time, there is now an online tool that allows Americans to quickly and easily search for information about every federal program that provides grants, loans, or direct payments.
CLICK HERE to read more about the online federal inventory.
Funding the Government
Our nation is $34 trillion in debt. I continue to raise the serious national security threat posed by our debt and the rapidly growing interest payments of our debt. As debt continues to skyrocket, Washington, DC, must stop ignoring this huge problem and pretending it will solve itself. There are also some people who demand we solve everything right now or they will do nothing, so nothing gets done year after year.
I continue to support a complete overhaul of our broken budget and spending process because it has not worked for 40 years—but there is always resistance to changing the status quo in Washington, DC. Big changes will not happen overnight, so we should at least do something to turn our fiscal house around instead of doing nothing year after year.
The previous year’s spending ran out on September 30, 2023, and since then, we have been operating under “Continuing Resolutions” that just hold us at last year’s spending numbers. That is irresponsible for many reasons. Last week, we worked through the process of passing six of the 12 full-year spending bills to fund the government.
I generally prefer full-year spending bills to Continuing Resolutions because they provide greater clarity and stability. I voted in favor of the first six portions of government spending bills because they held spending down while ending some of the wasteful programs left over from when Speaker Pelosi was still leading the House of Representatives. We need to do much more, but we should at least do something.
CLICK HERE to read more about my vote last week on the first six of 12 total appropriation bills.
UPDATE: Protecting life
Recently I joined the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s podcast miniseries EXPOSED: Abortion in America to continue to call for justice for the five children found at the Washington Surgi-Clinic who apparently died from an illegal late term abortion in Washington DC. I continue to stand for life.
CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast.
In February I filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court in the case of Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States. My “friend of the court” brief supports the State of Idaho in defending its pro-life law, the Defense of Life Act, against the Biden Administration’s efforts to override it with its wrongful reinterpretation of federal law.
Idaho, like other states, passed laws to protect the unborn after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Biden Administration is trying advance its extreme agenda of abortion up to the moment of birth in Idaho and in Veterans Affairs hospitals across the United States, even when the state has prohibited abortion. The Supreme Court should affirm a state’s right to protect every life.
CLICK HERE to read more about my support for life in this case.
Keeping You in the Loop
- Wildfires in Oklahoma – A huge thank you goes to all of the fire fighters, law enforcement, emergency managers, and neighbors who have fought the wildfires, donated hay for livestock, or just helped a neighbor in need. We continue to pray for those who have lost so much. If you have lost livestock, fence, or have questions about federal aid after the wildfire damage, please contact my office at (405) 231-4941 or go to your local extension office of the Farm Service Agency. CLICK HERE to find more information on FSA.
- Worldwide Threats – Every year the Senate Intelligence Committee I serve on holds a public worldwide threats hearing to talk through the dangers we face each day in a non-classified setting. We have clear threats coming across our southern border everyday, threats from China, rising illegal drug use, unstable governments in Africa that are allowing a rise in terrorism, and so much more. CLICK HERE to watch my line of questioning at the hearing or the entire hearing.
- Tulsa and Stillwater Win Competitive Federal Grants – The Tulsa Airport Trust received a $12.5 million competitive federal grant to build a new air traffic control tower. Stillwater Airport also secured a $4.5 million award for the construction of a new terminal. CLICK HERE to read more about these federal transportation projects in our state.
- Providing Work Flexibility to Oklahomans – I joined a Supreme Court amicus brief to overturn the Department of Labor’s classification rule that threatens the gig economy and jeopardizes the ability of 27 million Americans to work as independent contractors. Many people like the flexibility of contract work and the gig economy. The Biden Administration is trying to force businesses and workers to operate like it is 1950 rather than 2024. Oklahoma workers and employers should have more flexibility, not less, in their choices of which types of jobs they want to pursue and hire. We should stop this rule to keep the Biden Administration‘s overreach away from Oklahoma workers and businesses. CLICK HERE to read more about my work to stand up against this overreach.
- Sending a Strong Message to Iran – We should apply pressure on the Iranian regime after months of heightened tension on the Middle East. Our push to censure Iran sends a strong message that rogue nuclear programs by any country, especially the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, will not be tolerated. CLICK HERE to read more about the censure.
- Protecting Religious Liberty – Amid ongoing threats to religious liberty and around the world, I introduced a resolution to express support for international religious freedom as a fundamental right and a cornerstone of US foreign policy amid concern over increased attacks on religious freedom worldwide. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has identified thousands of incidents where religious freedom was violated around the world in 2023, including violence against Rohingya Muslims in Burma, attacks on Uyghurs in China, and persecution of clergy by Russians in Ukraine. This has to stop, and we need to lead the world toward religious liberty for all. CLICK HERE to read more about my resolution.
- Stopping Biden’s Electric Vehicle Push – I am demanding the Biden Administration withdraw the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule entitled placing burdensome emissions standards that would require 67 percent of new light-duty vehicles and 46 percent of medium-duty vehicles to be electric by 2032. I don’t have a problem with electric vehicles, but Oklahoma industry and agriculture leaders have expressed very serious concerns about the tremendous costs they are worried about from this ridiculous rule. China currently dominates the EV battery market, every mandate to move Americans to EV vehicles now is a win for China and a loss for American consumers. CLICK HERE to read more about my letter.
- Coming to Washington, DC – Are you among the many groups of Oklahomans and families visiting our nation’s capital this spring? If you are, please be sure to contact my office to come by for “Java with James” on Wednesday mornings the Senate is in session at 9am ET. CLICK HERE for more details on how to visit my office in Washington, DC, and other important information for visiting the Capitol and surrounding area.
In God We Trust,
James Lankford
United States Senator for Oklahoma
