Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Senate Republican Vice Chair, spoke on the North Lawn following a lunch hosted by President Trump at the White House’s Rose Garden Club.
After a lunch meeting with President Trump, Senator James Lankford reaffirmed his call to reopen the federal government, now entering its third week of closure.
“There is one central thing that we’ve repeated over and over again,” Lankford said. “We want to get this government back open again.”
He noted that in past funding standoffs, Congress managed to keep operations running while talks continued. “Thirteen times in a row, we’ve reached a moment like this, and each time said, let’s keep the government open while we continue to be able to negotiate,” he explained. “Democrats this time stepped in and said, ‘No, we want to shut this down.’”
Lankford warned that the shutdown’s ripple effects extend beyond Washington. “Federal workers aren’t receiving paychecks,” he said. “Businesses around federal buildings, like restaurants and other entities, are being affected. This contagion is now spreading out across the country … and this is exceptionally unnecessary.”
He emphasized that Republicans have consistently opposed shutdowns. “Republicans spoke out loud and clear, even last session, voting to say we don’t want to have government shutdowns at all,” Lankford said. “We want to get this government back open again and get us negotiating and doing the work of the American people.”
