At the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) annual Washington Watch event in Washington, D.C., Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with Senator James Lankford and talked about disaster relief in Oklahoma after devastating tornadoes, his border security package, and more.
“On Sunday, I was in Sulphur with the cleanup, getting the chance to visit with folks and find out what is going on,” Lankford said. “We brought in the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) administrator. It is a bad day when the national FEMA administrator shows up in your state, but it also shows you that everyone sees the issue that is there. We spent a day in Marietta, then back in Sulphur again, getting the chance to talk about other locations.”
After wrapping up his visit to the Sulphur area, Lankford said western Oklahoma was hit with tornadoes next.
“We are working through the emergency assistance for state and local government entities as they have got a lot of extra burden that would be on the taxpayers otherwise,” Lankford said. “We are trying to help out every way we can.”
Lankford talked about how these disaster events have brought up conversations relating to boosting rural healthcare resources in rural areas.
“I have got seven different bills we are working on right now to try to get passed to be able to protect our independent pharmacies to be able to keep them open,” Lankford said. “If people want to do mail-order pharmaceuticals, that’s fine. They are welcome to do that, but a lot of folks, especially in rural Oklahoma, want to go to a pharmacist and be able to talk to somebody.”
Regarding Lankford’s border security package released in February, he said many individuals are starting to have a better understanding of the issues presented in the bill.
When the bill was first released, Lanford said it was rumored that the bill allows for 5,000 illegal immigrants to cross the border daily, which is not true.
The way the bill was written changed the rules for the very first-person crossing, Lankford said, so the first person that illegally crossed every day would be detained, receive a quick screening, and then be deported. After 5,000 immigrants, Lankford said there is no screening, and individuals are deported immediately.
“The goal was to be able to change how we handle asylum, change the speed of how we actually screen people because by law, if somebody asks for asylum you have got to screen them,” Lankford said. “This makes the screening much faster and much tougher, so the goal is that fewer people would ever come. Right now, anybody that comes across the border is going to get a non-screening, then get released into the country for years while they await their actual asylum hearing, then they find out at the end of it that they don’t qualify for asylum, which most people don’t, but they are still here, and they have been here for years, and they probably will not even show up for their hearing. Everybody knows that.”
Lankford spoke on the Senate floor about the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill, which is currently being considered by the Senate.
Oklahoma City is home to the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (MMAC), which is an essential part of safe and efficient air travel network coordinated by the FAA. MMAC is home to the only FAA Academy that provides the initial training for air traffic controllers. The FAA Academy provides centralized, standardized, and efficient training to about 20,000 students each year. Earlier this year, Lankford sent a letter with the entire Oklahoma congressional delegation standing with their great work and encouraging the FAA to expand it.
Lankford also gave an overview of more legislation he is working on, or against for Oklahomans including issues related to air traffic control, international threats, and more. Click the listen bar above to hear the full conversation!
