Dear Oklahoma friends and neighbors:
Our beautiful state is trying to decide if it is winter or spring. I hope you can get out to enjoy the beautiful weather before it’s 100 degrees soon.
There is more going on in Washington, DC, than I could possibly include in this month’s e-newsletter, so how about some highlights? In February, the US Senate worked long days and nights to finish hearings and one-on-one meetings with President Trump’s nominees. We have now confirmed more nominees faster than any Senate in the last 25 years.
Last week, the Senate “enjoyed” an all night “vote-a-rama.” Any time a partisan budget bill comes to the Senate floor, the Senate rules allow for unlimited amendments. Democrat Senators brought amendments every few minutes, all night, until 4:30am the next day to try to slow us down. However, Republican Senators stayed at our desks and voted down every amendment since they were all designed to prevent us from giving more money to border security and national security. After the all-night amendment votes, the Senate passed a budget resolution that starts the process of cutting out wasteful spending and passing a new tax law.
Once again, I released my annual Federal Fumbles book the week after the Super Bowl. We have highlighted and worked to get rid of government waste for years. This year’s Federal Fumbles: A Playbook for DOGE, highlights specific examples of waste, duplication, and wildly inappropriate uses of our tax dollars like payments to the Taliban in Afghanistan and transgender comic books in Peru. If you have ideas about how to reduce government waste, send them to us. We all need to pitch in to balance our federal budget and get rid of taxpayer fraud and waste.
CLICK HERE to read my latest Federal Fumbles book.
CLICK HERE to watch my video of this year’s Federal Fumbles highlights.
Meetings with Oklahoma Legislators and Other State Leaders
Since we did not have votes on Presidents' Day, I spent the day at our state Capitol meeting with Governor Stitt and members on both sides of the aisle in our state legislature. We talked about federal projects in Oklahoma, stopping foreign purchases of agricultural land, border security, the budget process, and the essential work our legislators do to help our state.
I also talked about how we can support our military bases and the important work the FAA does every day to train the next generation of air traffic controllers at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. After the tragic crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport a few weeks ago, our work to train more air traffic controllers is even more important.
We even talked about the agonizing exercise of switching from Daylight Saving Time back to Standard Time and then back to Daylight Saving Time four months later. Most Oklahomans I talk to are ready to get rid of “Spring Forward.” I support sticking with what is currently Daylight Saving Time, so we have more sunlight in the evenings for kids to play outside, throwing a frisbee with the dogs, and enjoying a porch swing or a patio. But even if you prefer longer mornings on Standard Time, almost everyone I talk to hates the “switch” from one to the other twice a year. I have a bill to “lock the clock” that I will once again work to get passed, so we can stay in Daylight Saving Time year-round. I have many other bills and issues I am determined to solve in Washington, but time change often creates some interesting conversations this time of year. By the way, "Spring Forward" is coming again on March 9.
CLICK HERE to read more about my Sunshine Protection Act.
The State of the Union Is March 4!
Next Tuesday, President Trump will deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. In his first two months in the White House, he has already dramatically decreased illegal crossings at our southern border, opened up new US energy production, rolled back some of the Biden Administration’s most outrageous executive actions including government-wide DEI requirements and compelling every school to allow male athletes in women’s sports.
CLICK HERE to watch my interview on Fox News about working with President Trump to reduce overspending and roll back Biden’s failed policies.
I expect the President to lay out a vision for the next year in our nation including increased national security, decreased crime, and balanced federal budgets. I hope he addresses his ideas to unleash American energy, reduce our spending and debt, and bring people together to solve our federal tax issues before they expire at the end of this year.
Get your popcorn and tune in Tuesday night. I will be sitting on the front row, but unfortunately they will not let me bring in any popcorn.
UPDATE: Providing Advice and Consent for President Trump’s Nominees
So far in February, the Senate has continued to focus votes on the Senate floor on confirming President Trump’s nominees at a record pace. Here are the latest nominations we voted to confirm:
- Jamieson Greer to be United States Trade Representative
- Daniel Driscoll to be Secretary of the Army
- Kash Patel to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- Kelly Loeffler to be Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA)
- Howard Lutnick to be Secretary of Commerce
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Brooke Rollins to be Secretary of Agriculture.
- Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
- Russell Vought to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
- Eric Turner to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Pam Bondi to be Attorney General
- Doug Collins to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA)
- Christopher Wright to be Secretary of Energy
- Doug Burgum to be Secretary of the Interior
Making It Easier to Produce US Energy in the US
The 2017 Trump tax cuts will expire in December if we do not act, which will cause the tax burden to go up on every American and every small business next year. We will not allow that to happen. But there are also a few other tax laws that were added by President Biden on our Oklahoma energy companies that need to be eliminated. Those new energy taxes drove up the cost of gasoline, natural gas, and so many other products in the last four years. I have written a bill to strip away the high tax penalties on oil and gas production, so those companies are treated the exact same way other manufacturers are treated in the tax code—no more, no less.
The ALIGN Act is another tax bill I have written that allows any business to write off their big expenses in the year they buy their equipment. This bill doesn’t reduce the amount of tax coming into the treasury over time, it just allows a company to depreciate the asset faster so they can invest in new infrastructure, technology and jobs faster. The ALIGN Act is good for any business, small or large, but it is vital to energy companies that spend so much money on pipelines and drilling equipment before they ever make a dime in profit.
The stakes are high for our economy. In Oklahoma alone, the oil and gas industry supports more than 350,000 families and adds $60 billion to the state’s economy. |