Dear Oklahoma friends and neighbors:

In January, I send out a brief “year in review” for Oklahomans to see what has been done on their behalf for our nation and our state. In 2021, our nation experienced challenges from COVID and the radical shift to the left from Democrats in the US House, Senate, and White House. 

Since President Biden and the Democrats took office one year ago, we’ve seen skyrocketing inflation, out-of-control overspending, an attack on religious liberty, dehumanizing unborn children, a wide open southern border, and a deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan. In 2020, the United States was economically recovering from COVID; we had a secure border; we were building on peace agreements in the Middle East; we had energy independence and low energy prices; and we had zero threat of a vaccine mandate on individuals from the three new vaccines developed in record time for COVID. 

During 2021, I authored 23 bills and 97 amendments. I also coauthored another 214 bills and 85 amendments. My team and I worked to ensure we responded to more than 50,000 Oklahomans’ letters and phone calls to me to share their opinions and concerns. I worked to address the issues we faced last year like protecting the rights of our parents, kids, workers, and jobs. We worked on national security, addressing our debt, voting integrity, religious liberty, protecting the lives of children in the womb, and reducing the size of government. We believe government should be efficient, effective, and operate within the bounds of the Constitution.

Biden created and then ignored the crisis at the southern border.

Since the first day of Biden’s presidency, our nation has faced the highest number of people illegally crossing our borders in US history. Last year, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered 1.7 million people from 149 countries. Biden created this crisis with his “open-door” policies at the border that included not finishing the border wall, not enforcing our laws at the border, and welcoming migrants in droves, despite a court order that required migrants seeking a court date in the US to stay in Mexico while they await their hearing.

When the media was blocked by the Biden Administration from visiting the border, I flew to the border and released multiple videos to expose the chaos the Administration did not want the world to see. I not only showed pictures of the gaps in the wall that the Biden Administration left, I released a report that exposed the billions of dollars taxpayers paid contractors to babysit the border wall materials at these sites while the Biden Administration “studied” the gaps in the wall. 

After months of publicly holding the Biden Administration accountable for its failures at the southern border, the Department of Homeland Security finally restarted construction on the southern wall to close the gaps in San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, and Del Rio. We are not done pushing to complete the construction of the secure fence and putting in place policies that work to secure our nation. 

Midway through 2021, the Biden Administration tried to quietly move illegal border crossers into western Oklahoma for processing and release. Within a few hours of hearing a rumor about it, I successfully blocked Biden’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office from opening their “surge overflow temporary facility” in Hinton. 

Late in 2021, we heard another rumor that the Administration was considering paying individuals who were arrested and separated at the border during the Trump Administration $450,000 each as a “settlement.” I introduced a bill to stop the proposed $450,000 settlements between the US government and illegal migrants who were separated from their families at the border. By the end of 2021, the Biden Administration dropped its planned “settlement payments.” 

I have met with leadership of CBP, US Border Patrol, and many other law enforcement professionals to encourage them, help plan next steps, and to push the Administration to do their job to protect the nation. I have authored multiple bills and amendments on border security, held public press conferences, and worked quietly behind the scenes. Border security is national security. No nation, especially a nation as powerful as the United States of America, should have an open border that ignores the obvious threats of drug trafficking, terrorism, and crime. We are a nation that celebrates legal immigration and works to stop illegal immigration. 

Biden continues to try to fire Americans over his COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Like many Oklahomans, I strongly oppose Biden’s vaccine mandates on our service members, health care workers, private-sector workers at companies with 100 or more employees, and federal employees. I introduced legislation to address every part of the mandate and successfully passed the resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandate on companies who employee 100 or more people.

Almost immediately after the vaccine mandates were announced in September of 2021, I introduced the Stop Vaccine Mandates Act to repeal President Biden’s Executive Order, which mandates vaccines for federal employees and federal contractors. I brought my bill to the floor to demand a vote of the Senate, but the Democrats blocked it. 

When military members who did not want the COVID-19 vaccine were threatened with a less-than-honorable discharge, I secured a provision in the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to protect their future, no matter their choice. 

I stood firmly with the Oklahoma National Guard and Guard members around the nation to offer legislation as an amendment to the NDAA to prohibit DOD from discharging or withholding pay or benefits from members of the National Guard because of their COVID–19 vaccination status. 

I weighed in with the Supreme Court to outline the constitutional issues with the vaccine mandate and argue for the Court to step in and block the mandate since it never went through Congress or even typical rulemaking for any administration. That argument is before the Supreme Court this Friday, January 7. 

Biden is the most pro-abortion president in American history. 

The life of unborn children has been under attack by this Administration, particularly from the efforts of Biden’s hand-picked Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra. The Biden Administration wants to force Americans, for the first time, to pay for abortions through their tax dollars and force health providers to participate in abortions against their conscience and religious beliefs. Over the past year, I have continued to stand for life at every opportunity. 

In a very close vote, my amendment to the budget passed and saved the vital Hyde Amendment protections that prevent American taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortions through our tax dollars. 

I led the Senate to communicate with briefs to the Supreme Court, floor speeches, press conferences, national editorials, and speaking on the steps of the Court in the lead up to the Dobbs case late last year. That case has the potential to overturn the national mandate created by the Court in 1973 on abortion and return the decision on life back to each state.

In November, I uncovered a leaked memo from HHS stating they want to repeal protections for religious freedoms and it directly called out Members—like me—who have been outspoken against HHS’ mishandling of conscience and religious freedom protections through the Office for Civil Rights. The leaked memo said that “…members of Congress who have been outspoken about OCR’s conscience and religious freedom activities and who have repeatedly asked questions about changes to OCR’s organizational structure and legal authority” would have negative reactions to this. 

Yes, they’re talking about me, and yes, I did have a very negative reaction, which I shared with them. Religious liberty and the lives of children are important to me and to our state. 

There were multiple other ways our team stood for life and liberty this year. I consider it a victory that we’re doing everything we can to protect life and stand against this Administration that is seeking to take away Americans’ rights.

Our elections should remain run by our states, not Washington, DC.

In America, it should be easy to vote, easy to verify, and hard to cheat. The Democrats’ multiple proposals and bills in 2021 to federalize elections make it easy to cheat and impossible to verify any election. I have strongly opposed the multiple Democrat bills that radically change our voting system and take away all voter ID, legalize ballot harvesting, and give federal tax dollars to candidates for office. 

The latest proposals even block every state from changing their voting laws, without first getting approval from the US Department of Justice. Federal courts already have the ability and responsibility to intervene in any state that is suppressing voting for any citizen, but if states like Oklahoma want to add more days of in person early voting or post-election audits, like our state Legislature did, we should not have to play “Mother, may I?” with the Department of Justice to get permission. 

Build Back Broke

For months, the Biden Administration has pushed to spend trillions of dollars on new entitlement programs and to radically change our economy to have more central control, what they called Build Back Better, but I called it Build Back “Broke.” In March, Democrats passed a $2 trillion “COVID” bill that largely went to entitlements and spending that was not COVID related. That spending has created the highest inflation we have seen since 1982 in our economy and raised the prices of almost everything we buy. Doing another huge spending entitlement and spending bill would only make a bad situation worse. 

For months, I have spoken out in hearings, on the Senate floor, in press conferences, and in public editorials on the major problems and threats to our national debt from Build Back "Broke." I felt that the more we could delay this bill and expose the specific problems, the more likely the bill would not pass at all. So far, that strategy has worked. 

• I helped stand up for American energy producers against Biden’s progressive and irresponsible activism that raised our prices of energy and seeks to irrationally destroy traditional energy entirely. The Biden Administration actually promoted Russia and the Middle East to provide the oil and natural gas still required to run our nation. In hearings, letters, private conversations and public hearings I promoted all forms of energy in America.
• I ensured Oklahomans could donate more to charities and write it off their federal taxes so Oklahomans can choose to support the nonprofits and faith-based organizations who provide food, shelter, and clothing to them.
• In the wake of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, I led a letter to Biden to demand a status update on his plans for the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (known as “GTMO”). The DOD’s very unsatisfactory and troubling response, after three months, indicated they plan to continue to move forward to close the facility and release more of the terrorists currently held at GTMO. Through the defense bill passed in December, I successfully worked to stop Biden from closing the terrorist detention center at GTMO, moving any of the detainees to the US, and prevented the Biden Administration from giving money to the Taliban.
• We stopped the government from requiring women to register for the draft, and we worked to ensure our service members are not forced to receive controversial critical race theory or “extremism” training.
• I stopped disastrous bills, like the Equality Act, from becoming law which would take away the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protections for Americans to live their faith in their workplace. 
• Under the Biden Administration, the communist Chinese government continues to threaten our national security, which is especially troubling as we look into the origins of COVID-19 from China. I helped author a provision in this year’s defense bill that requires DOD and the Director of National Intelligence to assess the involvement of the Chinese Communist Party in the origins of COVID-19.
• I introduced the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to ensure that goods made with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region do not enter the US after the State Department issued a determination that the Chinese Communist Party is committing crimes against humanity and genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. We must prevent China from targeting religious minorities and protect the right for all people to freely live their faith.
• When Biden nominated David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), I was fully opposed to Mr. Chipman’s nomination. After major push back by Oklahomans and Americans, the White House ultimately gave in to our massive opposition and pulled his nomination from consideration. The Second Amendment ensures law-abiding citizens have the right to keep and bear arms. I will continue to oppose Executive Branch nominees who openly want to reduce or restrict our constitutional rights, rather than protect and defend them.
• When Harmon Memorial Hospital in Hollis was on the verge of closing, my team and I worked to ensure the community hospital remained open. We were able to save all those jobs and maintain healthcare for SW Oklahoma.
• After hearing from an Oklahoma veteran who wanted an easier process for getting his prescription drugs paid for at the pharmacy, I helped secure a major victory for veterans’ health care after CVS stated they will rejoin the TRICARE network for prescription drugs, which will make processing claims for prescription drugs simpler and more efficient for Oklahoma veterans.
• My office helped almost 400 veterans access their military records and benefits over the year, and we were even able to ensure a veteran whose home burned down receive his replacement Purple Heart in time for Christmas. My office helped ensure several Vietnam-era medals, ribbons, and awards were bestowed on or replaced for our heroes.
• My team helped hundreds of Oklahomans get their passports as the US Passport Agency fell months behind schedule and Oklahomans needed to travel internationally for funerals, weddings, children being born, and business. When it was clear the passport backlog was a systemic issue, I reached out to the State Department to get them back on track.
• As a chair of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combatting Antisemitism, I introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning recent antisemitic incidents in the United States and around the world. The resolution calls on leaders to denounce antisemitism and take specific steps to address and prevent it. I hope we can bring in even more of our colleagues into the Task Force to call out instances of antisemitism where we see them, so when we say, "never again," we can demonstrate that we mean it.
• I held the IRS accountable to protect our privacy. I introduced the Don’t Weaponize the IRS Act to prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from being used as a political weapon against conservative nonprofits. S.1, one of the bills to federalize our elections, contained a provision to reverse a Trump Administration rule that protected taxpayers from the IRS targeting certain tax-exempt groups based on political beliefs. 
• I raised major security concerns with the ProPublica data leak of taxpayer information by someone within the IRS, which disclosed confidential, private, and legally protected taxpayer information and likely violated the law. I joined Finance Committee Republicans to ask the IRS for information on a recent collaboration with the nonprofit group Code for America, aimed at helping Americans file for Democrats’ expanded child tax credit.

In God We Trust,

James Lankford
United States Senator for Oklahoma

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