Photo Gallery

It was such a joy to visit A New Leaf’s new location in Owasso to meet their incredible clients, staff, and friends and hear about their vibrant beautiful community of learning, living, and working for adults with developmental disabilities. Thank you all for your care for some amazing Oklahomans.

Caught up with folks in Enid at the new Hideaway Pizza for lunch to hear about the great things going on in northwest Oklahoma.

Cindy and I were honored to join Dr. Kayse Shrum at her recent inauguration as the next president of Oklahoma State University. Congratulations, Dr. Shrum! We look forward to America’s brightest orange shining even brighter with you at the helm.

While traveling the Oklahoma panhandle a few weeks ago, I visited with the staff and residents at Beadles Nursing Home in Alva to hear about the challenges facing those who take care of our moms, dads, grandparents, and senior adult friends. Thank you for your ministry to some of the most vulnerable in our state.

Enjoyed a meal with leaders in Muskogee to give an update on what I’m working on in Washington, DC, and hear more about the Muskogee VA, what’s happening at the Port of Muskogee, and more of what is happening in Muskogee.

It was great to meet up with some of Oklahoma’s finest, the firefighters that keep Weatherford and the surrounding area safe. They’re always ready.

Had lunch and Q&A with the Tulsa Regional Chamber. We talked through energy issues, how Tulsans can stay engaged in what’s happening in our nation, why the “We” of “We the people” is so important to who we are as a nation, and more.

Before heading back to Washington, DC, I got to connect with Oklahoma Farm Bureau members about the issues facing our farmers and ranchers and how I can help.

Connected with Wayland Cubit, Director of Security for Oklahoma City Public Schools, and Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Sean McDaniel to discuss the district’s school safety plan and learn more about their ongoing school safety funding priorities.

Dear Oklahoma friends and neighbors:

It is starting to feel like fall in Oklahoma, but unfortunately as temperatures finally decline, prices are still rising. Gas prices have come down some, but diesel prices are still up, the price of eggs and essentials are up and interest rates are way up. All that “free money” the administration passed out last year brought record high inflation and real economic pain to everyone.

Thankfully, what’s also “up” is the Oklahoma Standard as neighbors step in to help people in need when they need it. I encourage each family to find one practical way to help another family in this challenging time. Our churches, local nonprofits, city rescue missions, food banks, and others who step up to help feed, clothe, and care for Oklahoma families need our time and partnership to meet this moment.

I have reminded many groups lately that the Constitution begins with the word “we” for a reason. Our nation is built on the strength of “we.” We must stand strong for our nation, our families, our communities, and for our freedoms—together.

CLICK HERE to watch my conversation with Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins about the need for all of us to pray, vote, and stand in our nation and more about the importance of “we.”

What’s Happening with Government Funding?

Every year Congress is supposed to pass 12 appropriations bills through committee, then pass the bills in the full Senate and House. This week, we saw peak government dysfunction as Democrats had to cobble together a Continuing Resolution to keep the government functioning until December 16, 2022, because they did not bring a single federal spending bill even to committee in the past nine months.

I continue to press for my bill to end the threat of government shutdowns by holding Congress responsible, not federal employees or Americans, for failing to fund the government on time. We live in the greatest nation in the world, we should not have a threat of government shut down every year. 

CLICK HERE to read more on why I opposed the Continuing Resolution.

CLICK HERE to learn more about my bill to prevent government shutdowns and hold Congress accountable.

Standing up for Parents to Make School Choices for Kids

I am the son of a teacher and someone who really appreciated the teachers in my life and my children’s lives. But, like many other parents, I get frustrated when schools get distracted by social issues and become political proving grounds. So, I speak out and stand up for our kids and parents.

Parents should make the decisions for their kids future and the values for their family, not Washington, DC, mandates or national political groups.

Recently, the Biden Administration threatened to cut off school lunch funding, unless the schools adopted the left’s progressive gender ideology. Literally, the Administration said that they would cut off food from children, if the school did not allow boys in the girls locker room and bathrooms.

Oklahoman parents are furious—rightly so.

CLICK HERE to read more about my pushback with Secretary of Education Cardona on his new federal rules proposal on Title IX and the left’s gender ideology politics.

CLICK HERE to read my letter to the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Nutrition Service about their attempt to needlessly put children at risk of losing access to lunch by excluding schools from the National School Lunch Program if they cannot affirm progressive gender ideology.

Are Foreign Nationals Buying Land in Oklahoma? Yes. They are.

When I chat with folks in rural Oklahoma, one of the most persistent questions I’m asked is, "What’s being done to stop foreign nationals form buying land in our state?"

Oklahoma’s “legal” medical marijuana industry has predictably attracted transnational criminal organizations to Oklahoma that are trafficking drugs and people. These criminal organizations partner with Chinese nationals and other foreign entities to buy land and buildings throughout our state. This is a real national security and human rights issue.

This has also exposed a vulnerability for the entire nation, we do not have a system in place to evaluate foreign purchases of land around military and sensitive infrastructure. We need to know who is buying our land, how they are using it, and if any criminal activity is occurring. That’s why I introduced the Security and Oversight of International Landholdings (SOIL) Act in order to provide oversight and transparency of purchases of US agricultural land that threaten national security.

CLICK HERE to read more about my bill.

CLICK HERE to watch my interview with OETA to discuss my bill. 

UPDATE: Southern Border Chaos

Did you know that the national training center for all United States Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations is located in Oklahoma? When I was there earlier this month, the agents relayed to me that last year, CBP intercepted 86 million pounds of fentanyl—enough to kill the population of the entire world TWICE. Just this week new data suggests that number is tragically even higher this year. 

Yes, you read that right. Who knows how much got past them and to our streets.

The drugs coming over our border in mass quantities are making their way to our state and killing Oklahomans, as we’ve seen in the news with all the additional drug busts around the state of meth, fentanyl, cocaine, and other harmful substances. I’ve met directly with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics to talk about what they and our federal law enforcement can do to protect our families from the drugs pouring into our state. I know Vice President Harris recently said that the border is secure, but I know first hand that is not true. The Border Patrol agents I’ve met with directly on the southern border have shown me where and how many people just walk across our border and the Administration will not allow our federal law enforcement to stop them.

Two weeks ago, I took executives from Facebook, Meta, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok to task for allowing their platforms to be used to help facilitate illegal border crossings at our southern border, including human trafficking. YouTube videos show how to cross our southern border illegally and how to avoid Border Patrol checkpoints. There are ads on Facebook for how to get in touch with human smugglers (read: the Mexican cartels) to get across our southern border. Their “terms of service” agreements say they don’t allow their platforms to be used for illegal activity, but apparently the social media companies do not consider illegally crossing our southern border an illegal activity.

CLICK HERE to watch my direct Q&A with them about their platforms.

I have a bill with Senator Sinema from Arizona to stop big tech from allowing people to use their platforms to illegally cross our border, smuggle drugs and human beings across it, and market the services of international human trafficking rings.

CLICK HERE to read about our bill.

Supporting Our Service Members

Some of our service members continue to face persecution for their requests for religious accommodations from taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Our military has people from diverse faiths that should be respected, not condemned.

On August 24, news reports came out (HERE’s one from Fox News) detailing the horrific living conditions of some of our sailors who have religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine. These horrible allegations need immediate attention, so I immediately contacted Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after these reports surfaced revealing deplorable living conditions, and I will continue to hold them accountable. 

CLICK HERE to read more about my letter to Secretary Austin demanding answers.

In some good news, my office was honored to assist a 98-year old World War II veteran get the immediate care he needed at a veteran’s hospital and transition to an assisted living facility. This veteran is a true hero, and the story of how several people in our state stepped up to help will warm your heart. 

CLICK HERE to watch the story on Fox23 out of Tulsa.

This week, we saw another good day for Oklahoma veterans and their families since my bill to fully fund the ongoing work to construct the veterans hospital in Tulsa unanimously passed the Senate. My bill, along with Oklahoma’s Senator Inhofe and Nebraska’s Senator Fischer, would allow the VA to use existing construction funds to offset inflation to build a 275,000-square-foot, 58-bed medical-surgical hospital in Tulsa, which is set to be complete in late 2023 and open for patients in late 2024.

I look forward to passage in the House and signature by the President in the days ahead.

CLICK HERE to read more about my bill to make sure the VA hospital in Tulsa can get done on time.

Keeping You in the Loop

• Ensuring Family-Owned and Rural Pharmacies Can Continue to Serve Veterans – Recently the veteran health care program, TRICARE, reset their contracts with pharmacies across the nation and told them they would reimburse local pharmacies at unrealistic low rates to force our veterans to use mail order pharmacies instead. This will leave many of our rural and family-owned pharmacies in Oklahoma out of the program and dramatically reduce healthcare options for our veterans. We are pushing back on this decision to keep local prescription options for our veterans. 
• Preventing a Nuclear Iran – As the freedom-loving Iranian people continue to protest in the streets the tyrannical Iranian regime, I asked the Senate to speak out for freedom in Iran. Unfortunately, my Iran Sanctions Preservation Act was blocked by Democrats on the floor of the Senate. My bill provides US policy solutions for the Middle East to address the Iranian regime’s support of terrorism, development of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), human rights violations, and nuclear proliferation. We must use every diplomatic option we have to prevent Iran from obtaining and using nuclear weapons. Our fight is not with the Iranian people but with the terrorist regime. I will keep pushing to hold Iran accountable. CLICK HERE to watch my remarks on the Senate floor in support of my bill. CLICK HERE to read about my resolution to honor the people who are protesting their tyrannical government in the streets.
• Ending Human Trafficking by the US Government – It’s hard to imagine that the US Government still has contracts in foreign countries with companies that use human trafficking for their labor. My bill, the End Human Trafficking in Government Contracts Act of 2022, finally passed this week and will head to the President’s desk to be signed into law. My bill ensures the US government is not funding or participating in human trafficking of vulnerable third-country workers through our contracts overseas, including those in defense and national security. It’s not okay for the coyotes in Mexico to traffic people across our southern border, and it’s definitely not okay for the US government to participate in human trafficking. Now we’re one step closer to keeping the US government out of the sad and disgusting business of human trafficking with Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. CLICK HERE to read more about my bill.
• Having to Stand Up for Life in New Places – Now the Biden Administration is pushing to have the VA provide abortions, even late term abortions, in spite of state laws. He’s also using taxpayer dollars to transport migrants to states that provide abortions. Both of these actions are in direct violation of federal law. President Biden is obsessed with increasing abortions at all stages of pregnancy. Children are valuable, not disposable. CLICK HERE to read more about Biden’s push to provide abortions at the VA. CLICK HERE to read more about my pushback on Biden’s proposal to transport unaccompanied pregnant minors to states that provide abortions.
• Disrupting Chinese Bank Influence – A recent staff report in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on which I serve revealed troubling information about China’s efforts to target, influence, and undermine the US Federal Reserve. I urged the Committee to take up this matter and hold a public hearing on this report. CLICK HERE to read my letter.
• Simplifying the Federal Disaster Loan Process – I introduced a bill that requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to establish a universal application across federal agencies for disaster survivors who are seeking federal assistance to recover. I’ve consistently heard from disaster victims about how difficult and disjointed the federal grant and low-interest loan application process was in an already burdensome situation. My bill creates one application on disasterassistance.gov to use across federal agencies to ensure disaster victims can easily apply for assistance while they clean up. This is a non-partisan government customer service issue we should solve to make it easier for Americans to access the help they need. CLICK HERE to read more about my bill.
• The “Ministry of Truth” Is at It Again – After weeks of pressure and questions from me and others in the Senate, on August 24, the Department of Homeland Security announced that they would terminate the highly controversial Disinformation Board of Governance. But they’re not done yet. I contacted Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the Department’s ongoing needless pursuit of a “disinformation board” after their first attempt failed. Now they are trying it from a different angle. CLICK HERE to read more about what they’re trying to do.
• Protecting Religious Freedom around the World – The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) does invaluable work to help our nation protect and promote the unalienable human right of religious freedom for all people of every faith around the world. I’m glad to see the House finally pass my bill to reauthorize this Commission. CLICK HERE to read more.
• Questioning Biden’s Nominees – I recently questioned President Biden’s nominee to serve as the Archivist of the United States, Dr. Colleen Shogan, about the previous Archivist’s actions to label our Founding Documents available online through the Archives as “offensive,” the Archivist’s stance on whether he or she can unilaterally ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and the ongoing role the National Archives have played in the investigation of President Trump and his Florida home. CLICK HERE to watch my Q&A with Shogan.
• Remaining a Friend to Our Farmers and Ranchers – I was honored to be selected for the “Friend of Farm Bureau” award after being nominated by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Our Oklahoma farmers and ranchers face big government regulations, issues on trade, ongoing drought, high fertilizer prices, and more. It is the noble work of our Oklahoma farmers and ranchers that ensure that Oklahoma and the world are fed and clothed. My family is grateful for our ag producers every day and the commitment they have to the land and our environment. CLICK HERE to learn more about this great honor.

In God We Trust,

James Lankford
United States Senator for Oklahoma

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If you would like more information on these topics or any other legislation currently before the US Senate, please do not hesitate to call my DC office at (202) 224-5754. My Oklahoma City office can be reached at (405) 231-4941 and my Tulsa office at (918) 581-7651. You can also follow me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram for updates on my work in Congress.
     
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