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On a recent bipartisan delegation of Senators on our southwest border, I heard directly about the most recent chaos President Biden has created for our federal law enforcement and border communities.

Cindy and I made sure we connected with Oklahoma US service members at Al Dhafra AFB in Abu Dhabi while on a foreign policy delegation to the Abraham Accords countries in the Middle East.

It’s always great to meet Oklahomans touring our US Capitol, especially a great group of high school students from Lawton!

Mentors are key to making sure we instill our values as Oklahomans and Americans in the next generation. It was an honor to meet members of the National Mentoring Summit at Java with James when they were in DC this week. Thank you for mentoring the next generation! You will never regret making a positive difference in someone’s life.

I was again honored to take my oath of office to serve in the 118th Congress in the Senate. Thank you for staying engaged with my office on how we can address the many issues facing our nation with Oklahoma hard work and ingenuity. Let’s get back to work. 

Dear Oklahoma friends and neighbors,

I hope you and your friends and family stayed safe and warm this week through the ice and cold weather. If you have an opportunity to help another family around you or at your school during the cold weather, it would be a blessing to them and our state. We are at our best when we take care of each other. 

This e-newsletter highlights some of our work on national security, the economy, life, prescription drug prices, foreign policy and much more – skim it or read it in full. If you need additional information, please reach out and we would be honored to serve you. 

This week, Cindy and I joined the National Prayer Breakfast early on Thursday morning at the Capitol to pray for reconciliation in our country and for our nation’s leaders to serve with integrity, wisdom, and discernment. We do not agree on many issues in Washington, but we are fellow Americans. There is a real difference between personal attacks and very strong policy fights. An hour of early morning and prayer and challenge from the scripture was a good way for Congress to begin this new session. 

During the two weeks early in January that the Senate was not in session, I traveled to see firsthand two very important issues that face our nation: the continuing chaos at our southwest border and the positive work toward peace with Israel in the Middle East through the Abraham Accords.

CLICK HERE to watch a video about the bi-partisan congressional delegation tour of the southwest border.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the congressional delegation I co-led with Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen  to the Middle East to speak face to face with the leaders of the Abraham Accords nations (Israel, Morocco, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates). We had some very productive conversations with the leaders of each nation about normalizing relationships between Israelis and Arab nations. We talked about the rising threat of Iranian terrorism and the American national security interests in the region. We also visited US service members in the region and thanked them for their remarkable work for peace. 

What’s Really Going on at the Southern Border?

Last month, I joined seven other Senators—Republican, Democrat, and Independent—to Yuma, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas, to talk to community leaders, Border Patrol, and other federal law enforcement. 

To give you a picture of how bad the situation really is along the border, in the past three years, tiny Yuma, Arizona, went from having 8,000 people illegally crossing a year to 310,000 people illegally crossing this year. Yuma is overwhelmed. Dealing with that many people means that Border Patrol agents are unable to interdict drugs, terrorists, and illegal materials crossing our border. 

I personally watched late one night near El Paso as the mounted Border Patrol apprehended two Chinese nationals trying to run across the border. In Yuma, I met people from Uzbekistan who had been apprehended in the past 24 hours. Many people do not understand that the open-border policy and lax enforcement from the Biden Administration have encouraged people from literally all over the world to illegally cross our border.

We are the greatest nation in the world. I am never surprised that people around the globe want to be Americans. But we have a legal process to come. Currently, the Biden Administration is incentivizing people to come to the US illegally to find work instead of legally. If you're outside the US, and you apply for a work visa through the normal, legal process, the wait time is currently between six and eight months to get your work visa. But if you illegally cross our border and claim you’re seeking asylum (even if you do not qualify), you're given “parole,” and a work permit within three to four weeks. That’s not fair, and everyone knows it. Almost everyone who illegally crosses our border now gets into the country, and the Biden Administration has dramatically cut deportations of people illegally present in the country, even if a court has ordered them removed. The combination of low deportations and quick work permits (lasting for years) has created a huge draw to illegally enter the country. 

On the positive side, after two years of demanding action, while I was in Yuma, I saw construction of the wall has begun again. You may remember, on the first day of Biden’s presidency, he “paused” border wall construction and left the steel laying flat in the desert. After two years of relentless pressure from my office and several others, the Biden Administration has finally re-started border wall construction in limited sites. I am not content with just a few small sections of border wall construction, so we will keep pushing them to complete the fencing which the Border Patrol has requested for years. 

I also demanded answers from the Department of Justice and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following reports that ICE has provided the public inaccurate data on ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program. It is hard to get information at all from this Administration. It is even worse when we later find out it was false. 

CLICK HERE to read my letter demanding accountability.

I introduced two bills this week that are critical to fixing the crisis at the border as illegal border crossers continue to take the dangerous journey across the US-Mexico southern border. President Biden has stated that he will finally end the public health emergency in the country on May 11. That will end the small percentage of Title 42 deportations that are currently occurring, which will likely make the situation at the border even worse. To extend the Title 42 immigration authorities at the border, I introduced The Public Health and Border Security Act which would require the Department of Homeland Security to put in place a workable plan to manage the chaos at the border. I also introduced the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Reform and Integrity Act, which would restore “temporariness” to TPS by requiring Congress to approve an extension of a country’s designation for TPS. 

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Public Health and Border security Act and the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Reform and Integrity act.

CLICK HERE to read the Fox News exclusive on the border security bills.

Last week, I announced that my guest to the State of the Union this year will be Border Patrol Union leader Brandon Judd, who stands up for the rank-and-file members of our border law enforcement. When President Biden visited El Paso last month, he refused to meet with the Border Union members to hear first-hand from the men and women who are overwhelmed and risking their lives to protect our nation. 

CLICK HERE to see my social media post announcement.

We Must Address Our National Debt and Federal Spending

Our national debt stands at $31.5 trillion (with a T). Unfortunately, our debt has rapidly increased under Democratic and Republican leaders. Now, another debt ceiling debate is looming in our nation. This week, I was joined by Mike Lee of Utah and 23 Senate Republicans to put President Biden on notice that, “We do not intend to vote for a debt-ceiling increase without structural reforms to address current and future fiscal realities and manage out-of-control government policies.” 

CLICK HERE to read our letter opposing an irresponsible debt ceiling increase.

The main reason our debt has skyrocketed from roughly $1 trillion under President Reagan to just over $10 trillion under President Obama and now more than $31 trillion under President Biden is that Congress continues to ignore the tough decisions to stop our debt from spiraling out of control and punts the tough decisions—to responsibly fund the government and keep it functioning—until we face yet another a government shutdown. No responsible parent will say, “Life is tough. I think I will make it easier on me by making it harder on my kids.” A responsible nation should not dump the consequences of overspending on the next generation.

Forcing Congress to stay in DC until the budget work is done is the most effective way to get Congress to actually get the government funded on time. I introduced the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, a commonsense non-partisan solution to put the pressure on lawmakers instead of hurting federal families and services during a shutdown and actually force Congress to stay in session every day until they confront our debt and spending problems.

Shutting down the government does not solve the problem. It creates new problems. But currently there are very limited methods to focus Congress on the national debt, unless we pass my bill.

CLICK HERE for more information on my Prevent Government Shutdowns Act.

Asking Senators and the Nation a Simple Question: When is a Child a Child? 

Our nation does not all agree when life begins. As I’ve said many times, I believe every life has value and worth and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. I believe life begins at conception and the only difference between a baby in the womb five minutes before he or she is born and a baby in my arms is a few minutes of time. 

The March for Life in Washington, DC, takes place on a cold day in January each year, and I continue to take time to recognize the event and thousands upon thousands of participants who come to the nation’s capital to stand for life. I have also asked my fellow Senators a simple question: when is a child a child? When does life begin?—I believe most people have not stopped to think about that question. It is easier to just repeat slogans than it is to stop and consider: when is a child a child? We celebrate a mom at our work who announces that she is pregnant because we acknowledge that child. But remarkably, a woman who has an abortion at that same point in gestation, some just say it was tissue and not a child. What is the difference?

CLICK HERE to watch my remarks on the Senate floor to ask Senators, “When is a child a child?”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released a memo claiming that abortion drugs can be mailed into states that prohibit abortions—directly violating federal and state laws. I immediately called out the Biden Administration’s willingness to jeopardize the health and safety of women to further the left’s abortion-on-demand agenda.

CLICK HERE to read more on my complete opposition to the DOJ’s move toward mail-order chemical abortions, which are clearly against the law.

This week, I joined my colleagues to introduce the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which will establish a permanent prohibition on federal funding for abortion and replace the current annual funding restrictions of the Hyde Amendment with a single, government-wide standard. It would also eliminate Obamacare’s taxpayer subsidies for elective abortion coverage through refundable tax credits.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act. 

It shouldn’t be controversial to say that the small number of children who survive an attempted abortion and are living outside their mother’s womb deserve to receive care. Protecting life is a human rights issue. I am proud to introduce the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and to speak up for the children who cannot speak for themselves. A baby crying outside the womb should be cared for, not destroyed.

CLICK HERE to learn more about my bill to protect children who are born alive.

Beginning Season Three of My Podcast, The Breakdown with James Lankford

A week ago, I released Season 3 of The Breakdown. In episode one, I was joined by Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih on Twitter) to discuss the ongoing protests in Iran and the Iranian uprising. We focused on why Oklahomans and Americans should care about the Iran protest and the need to protect human rights for every Iranian. By the way, when I was recently in the Middle East, leaders from every nation in the region stated that Iranian terrorism is one of the greatest threats to peace in the Middle East. 

Masih Alinejad grew up in a tiny village in northern Iran. As a teenager she was arrested and jailed for producing a student newspaper. Now, after fleeing from Iran in 2009, Masih still faces threats from the Iran regime. Masih has clear insight into the current protests in Iran and what we as Americans can do to stand with the people of Iran living under the oppression of their leaders. She truly has a compelling story. Listen to the latest episode or any of the previous episodes of The Breakdown on iTunes, SoundCloud, YouTube, or Spotify. 

Keeping You in the Loop

• Helping Oklahoma through My Congressional Committees: This week, we received our Senate committee assignments for the 118th Congress. I am honored to serve and represent our state’s interests on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Finance Committee, Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Committee on Ethics. I look forward to ensuring our state’s voice is part of the conversations on tax, health care, finance, energy, trade, agriculture, border security, national security, and much more. After working together on committee assignments, Senator Mullin was selected to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Committee on Indian Affairs, Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (known as the “HELP”) Committee). Being on a wide variety of committees allows us to have the maximum influence in the Senate for our state. CLICK HERE to learn more about my committee assignments.
• More Paperwork Means Higher Costs and Fewer Options: The Biden Administration is at it again—pushing their Green New Deal agenda on Americans, now from the Department of Defense(DOD), who imposed a new environmental rule on federal contractors that will drive up costs for our national defense and limit the number of defense contractors in America. Federal Defense contractors are already flooded with red tape, heavy record-keeping requirements, and excessive federal regulations when trying to do business with the federal government. It is ridiculous to add greenhouse gas tracking for weapon’s systems to appease the global-warming obsessed left. I introduced the Focus on the Mission Act to put a stop to this. CLICK HERE to learn more about the bill.
• Making Sure Oklahomans Have Internet Access: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) needs our help to let them know where high speed broadband is—or isn’t—available in our state. The FCC is offering an interactive map Oklahomans can check and even challenge internet availability in your area. CLICK HERE to check out the FCC’s broadband map. You can also take a speed test to determine if speeds in your area are as advertised. CLICK HERE to learn more about FCC’s challenge speed test and how each of us can help inform where faster broadband access is needed.
• Bringing Down the Cost of Rx Drugs: Getting affordable prescription drugs in Oklahoma and around the nation doesn’t need to be as complicated or costly. Unfortunately, at each stage of the Rx pricing process, someone is taking a cut, and it’s driving up the costs for Oklahomans at the pharmacy counters. I introduced the Prescription Pricing for the People Act to start to unwind the Rx pricing scheme and bring it back to reality. CLICK HERE to read more about my bill. This is just one of many bills and ideas we have to bring down the cost of prescriptions, but also make sure we do not lose access to the most current drug innovations in the world.
• Stopping IRS Snooping on Taxpayers: Did you know the IRS is now authorized to snoop on your online payments like Venmo or PayPal, and force financial institutions to report on your spending? One of the straight party Democratic bills passed last term, called the American Rescue Plan, required third-party payment platforms, like Venmo and PayPal, to report transaction volumes totaling more than $600 to the IRS. I introduced the Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments, or SNOOP, Act, to get rid of this overstep by the IRS. This has to stop. CLICK HERE to learn more about my bill.
• Keeping US Energy for US Emergencies: We should not pull oil out of the public Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) without also increasing energy production on public lands. We should also make sure the federal government stops begging OPEC and others for foreign oil while holding back domestic energy production. Biden has sold our energy reserves out of the SPR because he refuses to increase US energy production in a classic example of Biden putting his climate-change agenda over American jobs and energy independence. I will continue to stand against it, which is why I introduced the Strategic Production Response Act to prioritize American energy production. CLICK HERE to read more about this important bill. By the way, I am also pushing back hard against the latest radical idea from this administration of controlling the use of natural gas stoves in America. Each week, their proposals get more invasive and absurd than last week. CLICK HERE to read about my letter demanding answers on gas stoves.
• Standing Up to TRICARE Pharmacy Favoritism: I led the effort to push the DOD to re-include rural and locally-owned pharmacies in the TRICARE network after they were initially cut in favor of big, chain pharmacies. But after I was told TRICARE would give more time for contract negotiation, I have received alarming reports from veterans and pharmacies in Oklahoma that TRICARE’s latest “fix,” failed to resolve the problem of veterans being denied access to their pharmacies. I have demanded answers from the Defense Health Agency Director, Express Scripts President, and the Cigna Corporation Chairman and CEO. I’m not letting this go. CLICK HERE to read more on what I’m doing to get this turned around.
• Earning DOD’s Commitment on Religious Accommodations for Service Members: I have worked for years to protect the rights of religious liberty for our heroes in the Armed Forces. Recently, I received a commitment from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that all members who had requested a religious accommodation from the COVID-19 vaccine—who have been waiting well over a year for a response—will now get the answers they have been waiting for and be allowed to return to their duties. Thank you to all the service members and their families who called my office to tell me their requests for a religious accommodations were falling on deaf ears or flat-out being ignored. Your stories gave me the information I needed to go to work to fix this problem for you and for others. CLICK HERE to read more about this win for our service members.
• Ending Dangerous Gain-of-Function Research: I introduced a bill to end all federal research grants involving risky gain-of-function research on potential pandemic pathogens. We should defund China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology and end US support for any high-risk gain-of-function research. It is common sense to keep a watchful eye on the schemes of the communist Chinese government and to not fund their research. CLICK HERE to learn more about the bill.
• Celebrating New Fun to Atoka: If you haven’t already heard, let me be the first to bring you the good news that one of Oklahoma’s favorite daughters (and fellow redhead), Reba McEntire has opened her three-story restaurant and entertainment venue, “Reba’s Place,” in Atoka! If you get an opportunity to visit southeast Oklahoma, make your way over to Atoka and enjoy a fun new attraction in this rising and innovative Oklahoma community!
• Water is Precious, Federal Regulations are Not: Here we go again. Oklahomans, including me, want clean, safe water. But, now President Biden has created new rules for water on private farm land. Oklahoma farmers, ranchers, and developers will have to spend their time and money to try to figure out what the federal government will let them do on their own land. I joined my colleagues to introduce a resolution of disapproval of the new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule to make sure President Biden knows not everyone is happy getting permission from Washington before you can plow a field, build a stock pond or add a new driveway onto your land. CLICK HERE to read more about the congressional resolution of disapproval.
• Protecting Your Retirement Funds from Biden’s Woke Agenda: Political preferences should have no place in determining Oklahomans’ retirement funds. It’s sadly not surprising that the White House is using their latest environmental, social, and governance (ESG) push to force their woke agenda into every part of our lives, now it is at the cost of Americans’ retirement. Americans should not have to turn over their retirement savings to left-wing activists. I’m standing against it with my new bill. CLICK HERE to read more about it.

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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