Sen. James Lankford visited Stroud City Hall on Oct. 12 for a short community Q&A session with citizens. The event was attended by around 15 to 20 Stroud residents. The senator answered questions about the recently diverted government shutdown, the current situation in Israel and other topics broached by citizens.
Lankford spoke in depth about why he feels government shutdowns hurt the U.S. rather than help. He discussed the bill he has been working on with a Democratic senator (Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire) to find a non-partisan way to avoid future shutdowns.
The bill has an automatic continuing resolution that kicks in to the previous year’s level to keep the status quo. But it also requires that members of Congress and their staff do not travel and are instead in session and can’t work on any bills but appropriations.
“It’s the equivalent of, if you don’t finish your classwork, you’ve got to stay after class,” Lankford said. “We’re stuck there seven days a week, looking at each other and saying we’ve got to solve this.”
He said that they have good support. Republicans are on board in the Senate and there is a growing number of Democrats that also support it.
Another citizen asked if the government has a plan in place to rescue Americans in Israel. Lankford said the carrier group Gerald Ford is in the Mediterranean Sea outside of Gaza with a hostage rescue team on it, and there is another team that is permanently stationed in Cypress.
The challenge is determining where the Americans are located, he con tinued. There are 25 Americans who were either living in or visiting the kibbutz that were attacked by Hamas that are unaccounted for. Lankford said they have not checked in with their families, nor have their bodies been found, so it’s assumed they are hostages.
“We obviously have to know where they are to be able to go in. But we do have the capability and the power to be able to do it,” he said.
Sen. Lankford also addressed questions about the future of the federal budget and FSA loan forgiveness for minority farmers.
On the future of the budget, the senator said that it is currently so far out of balance that it’s irrational. Spending has been up since COVID, with overspending hitting $2 trillion.
“I understand the big bump during COVID - it was the definition of a rainy day, but we’re not at that spot anymore,” he said. “We’ve got this weird moment where we’ve got the brake and the accelerator on at the same time.”
Lankford said he supports holding a fiscal commission that is equal parts House and Senate, and Democrats and Republicans to look at the big picture of where we are as an economy.
“My hope is by the end of this year, we can get a commission like that in place, give them nine or 10 months to be able to work, and go through all the big picture items. And by the end of next year, to be able to have a proposal where everybody can put it all on the table to say this is a way to resolve it,” he said.
Lankford said he did not support the reconciliation bill that would provide loan relief to disadvantaged Black, Latino and Asian farmers, calling it divisive and “randomness.” The bill was challenged by the courts right after it passed. He currently doesn’t have any information on how it’s going.
“My statement is, if you’re going to forgive loans, at least be strategic on it,” he said.