Lankford, Sen 4 7%

LCV 4/7%

http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/james-lankford

rino b/c talked to dems?

COMRADE KAMALA: The Communist Candidate – The First TV

cernovich

jk media goes along w/ aparachiks

politifact says walz did not dodge deploy

lankford rino grabs ankles for commies?!

---

hard rt got biggest border concessions b/c ukraine hostage, but then gets censured for talking to dems? [trump vetoed bill so he cd run against biden on invasion

Meeting to censure Oklahoma GOP senator was 'held illegitimately': report - Alternet.org

Here are the details of the new bipartisan border security bill Trump doesn’t want passed - Alternet.org

---

an 2 24

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) isn't happy with House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-Louisiana) promise to kill immigration legislation that the US Senate is working to pass.

According to reporter Emily Brooks of the Hill, Crenshaw railed against his Republican colleagues on Thursday for refusing to even consider any legislation to address the flow of migrants at the Southern border. Brooks tweeted that Crenshaw — while not naming names — specifically addressed his comments to "the right" in airing his frustrations.

"I'm extremely disappointed in the very strange maneuvering by many on the right to torpedo a potential border reform bill. That's what we all ran on doing," Crenshaw said. "If we have a bill that decreases illegal immigration — and that's an if, right? … But if we have a bill that on net significantly decreases illegal immigration, and we sabotage that, that is inconsistent with what we told our voters we would do."

The US Senate is currently close to finalizing legislation aimed at providing additional funding for border security, as well as new authorities for the executive branch allowing for a temporary shutdown of the border if crossings number more than 5,000 in a given week. President Joe Biden has insisted he's done all he can to stem the flow of migrants without additional powers over the border that would have to be granted by an act of Congress.

:{Sens. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) have been leading the bipartisan negotiations since late last year, and the Democratic-controlled US Senate is poised to pass a legislative package that would include many items on the Republican wish list.

Included in the proposed framework is language that would allow for the automatic expulsion of asylum seekers and shortening the time for asylum to be considered to just six months (where it used to take up to 10 years). The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has criticized the framework as potentially committing "refoulement," which pertains to international law aimed at preventing governments from knowingly sending people fleeing danger back to their home countries.}:

"Refoulement was frequent during the Title 42 era. In addition to exposing some asylum seekers to the same perils they were originally fleeing, border expulsions placed them in new danger," WOLA wrote. "Despite the difficulty of monitoring during the pandemic, Human Rights First and border-zone partners tracked 13,480 attacks—killings, rapes, kidnappings, assaults, robberies—against people expelled into dangerous Mexican border cities."

Despite the conservative nature of the bill, former President Donald Trump has been reportedly lobbying Republicans to not support the legislation, hoping to prevent Biden from notching a win on a key campaign issue for Trump.

---

an 1 24

a group of seventeen senators led by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), among them some of the most hardline, far-right Republicans, have joined together in calling for a special conference meeting on Ukraine funding ahead of a vote that could come as soon as next week.

The move comes as Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is aligning with Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and, effectively, President Joe Biden, in calling for House and Senate Republicans to accept a border deal crafted by U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK).

House Republicans have tied any funding support for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan to HR2 a bill that has little to no chance of passing in the Senate. It is opposed by immigration advocates, the Biden White House, Senate Democrats and some Senate Republicans, and other groups including Catholic Bishops.

Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman was first to report the demand for the meeting, posting the letter (below) signed by Republican U.S. Senators Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rick Scott, Mike Braun, John Cornyn, Marsha Blackburn, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Roger Marshall, Eric Schmitt, Tommy Tuberville, Cynthia Lummis, Bill Hagerty, Marco Rubio, James Risch, J.D. Vance, and Ted Budd.

The letter calls for the special conference meeting on Ukraine funding to come next week. Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reports that meeting will take place next Wednesday, according to Punchbowl’s Andrew Desiderio.

Pointing to that letter, Desiderio writes, “Of note — not all of these signatories are opposed to Ukraine funding. But most of them are.”

The letter also came while the top four House and Senate leaders were meeting with President Joe Biden. The Republican Speaker, Mike Johnson, quickly announced at the end of that meeting that nothing has changed.

“Johnson’s remarks show a continued hardline position on tying Ukraine funding to border restrictions,” Politico reports. “He also said he was not wedded strictly to the name of any bill being attached, a nod to the fact that many House Republicans want the deal to closely mimic the conservative border bill H.R. 2, but said the elements in any deal ‘have to be meaningful.'”

See the letter below or at this link.

===

11 23 an

Tuesday, December 5, Democratic and GOP senators attended a closed-door briefing in which President Joe Biden's request for military aid to Israel and Ukraine was discussed. But according to NBC News reporters Frank Thorp V, Kate Santaliz and Lori Rampani, the briefing did not go well.

The briefing's leaders included, among others, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Alejandro Mayorkas as well as Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Senators who attended were invited to ask questions about Biden's request.

But according to Thorp, Santaliz and Rampani, the "heated" briefing "fell apart" when "Republicans began asking about the" U.S./Mexico border.

"GOP members in both chambers have demanded serious changes to immigration policy to address rising migrant crossings in exchange for passing new aid for Ukraine," the NBC News reporters explain. "They didn't like what they heard."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) told NBC News there was "a lot of tension in the room." And Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) complained that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) didn't want to "talk about the border."

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) told reporters, "People got up and walked out, because this is a waste of time."

Schumer, however, complained that the briefing "was immediately hijacked by" Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who asked Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) to discuss the border.

READ MORE:[Mitch McConnell’s Ukraine policy puts him 'on a collision course' with House Speaker Johnson: report

Schumer said of McConnell, "The first question, instead of asking our panelists — he called on Lankford to give a five-minute talk about the negotiations on the border. And that wasn't the purpose of the meeting at all…. One of them started — it was disrespectful — started screaming at one of the generals and challenging him to why he didn't go to the border."

READ MORE:[Vivek Ramaswamy implies Hunter Biden is reason behind US aid to Ukraine: report

*Read NBC News' full report at this link.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/james-lankford-blocks-unanimous-consent/

out of state travel for abortion

===

921 an

when a coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 4.7 million people worldwide and over 695,000 of them are in the United States — according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — a vaccine mandate for the U.S. Armed Forces makes perfect sense. But a lawsuit filed by a "MAGA medical group," consisting of far-right anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists, is aiming to stop the Pentagon's vaccine mandate, according to Daily Beast senior researcher Adam Rawnsley.

Gen. Lloyd J. Austin, Secretary of Defense in the Biden administration, ordered all active-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces to get vaccinated for COVID-19 — and the far-right MAGA anti-vaxxers, in response, have filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon.

Rawnsley, in an article published on September 30, explains, "Lt. Col. Theresa M. Long, who serves as the brigade surgeon for the Army's 1st Aviation Brigade, filed an affidavit late last week in support of the suit's motion to block the vaccine mandate — arguing against the requirement based in part on her false belief that 'all persons who have received a COVID-19 vaccine are damaged in their cardiovascular system in an irreparable and irrevocable manner'…. The affidavit was filed as part of a suit brought by lawyers working with America's Frontline Doctors (AFLDS), according to the group, and requests a declaratory judgment blocking the vaccine requirement, on behalf of Staff Sergeants Dan Robert (USA), Hollie Mulvihill (USMC), and anti-vaxxers within the military."

Long, according to Rawnsley, "has joined a small but increasingly vocal group of field-grade officers encouraged by conservative activists and media as part of the right wing's crusade against COVID-19 vaccine mandates."

"The few officers and enlisted service members who have gone public with their opposition to the vaccine mandate are now finding increasing support among Republican members of Congress," Rawnsley notes. "Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), James Lankford (R-OK), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), for example, have recently drafted (a) proposed amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act that would gut the proposed vaccine mandate."

According to Rawnsley, roughly 70% of the U.S. military has been vaccinated for COVID-19. Austin and President Joe Biden would like to get that number even higher.

The good news about the AFLDS lawsuit, according to Rawnsley, is that it "faces long odds."

"Within the military," Rawnsley observes, "Long's own court filing suggests that ardent anti-vaccine attitudes may not be that widely shared. Long wrote that she's encountered 'mixed results in terms of acceptance, rejection and threats of punishment' over her opinions."

===

big lie rant speech 1/6 180?

https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/even-ultra-conservative-james-lankford-isnt-pro-trump-enough-for-the-oklahoma-gop-report/

https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/new-report-shows-how-trump-and-mitch-mcconnell-have-teamed-up-to-thwart-efforts-to-secure-u-s-elections/

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report for the Russia investigation is full of elaborate details on Russian interference in the 2016 election, and members of Congress who have read Attorney General William Barr’s redacted version of the report are fearful that Russian operatives will interfere in the 2020 election as well. Various bills promoting election security have been proposed in the Senate, but according to an in-depth report by Vox’s Li Zhou, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has no interest in bringing them up for a vote.

Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri explained McConnell’s opposition last week, saying, “I think the majority leader just is of the view that this debate reaches no conclusion.” And according to Zhou, McConnell’s decision is driven, in part, by “Trump’s aversion to the subject, which the president sees as too closely tied to questions about the outcome of the 2016 election.”

Zhou goes on to say that “McConnell’s unwillingness to tackle election security” is not only “sending a political message,” but also, “has massive consequences.” And because of McConnell’s inaction on election security, Zhou asserts, the U.S. Senate “is now effectively promoting a do-nothing approach to a subject that Special Counsel Robert Mueller and countless national security officials have raised as a serious threat that requires additional action.”

Together, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar—one of the many candidates competing for the 2020 Democratic presidential primary—andRepublican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma recently co-sponsored an election security bill. And Zhou reports that opposition to their bill came from both McConnell and former White House Counsel Don McGahn. According to Klobuchar, McGahn “called Republicans about the bill, didn’t want them to do it,” while McConnell “also didn’t want the bill to move forward. So it was a double-edged thing.”

Zhou reports that “Trump’s position on such bills—and McConnell’s longstanding resistance to advancing them—could mean that they’ll remain stalled.” And when it comes to election security bills, Zhou writes, the Senate majority leader “is just fine following Trump’s lead.”

Tuesday, redaction errors in court documents filed by attorneys of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort revealed that he is accused of sharing campaign information with Kremlin agent Konstantin Kilimnik during the 2016 election — a massive development that would be a direct example of collusion with Russia.

But on CNN Wednesday morning, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who previously sat on the Senate Intelligence Committee last term, this is not really Russia collusion. Why not? Because Manafort and Kilimnik were associates before he started working for Trump!

PRUITT’S ALEC TIES

Pruitt was an Oklahoma state senator from 2002-2007. As a legislator, Pruitt chaired the ALEC Civil Justice task force in 2003 and perhaps other years. ALEC is a corporate bill mill where legislators and industry lobbyists work together behind closed doors to draft industry-friendly bills that are then introduced in state houses across the nation as “innovative” public policy stripped of their industry origins.

But Pruitt touted industry influence as a plus in an interview. “ALEC is unique in the sense that it puts legislators and companies together and they create policy collectively,” Pruitt said.

One cookie-cutter bill approved by ALEC’s Civil Justice task force in 2003 was the Asbestos and Silica Claims Priorities Act. It is one of many ALEC bills geared toward protecting the deadly asbestos industry and companies that don’t protect their workers from known asbestos or silica hazards. The bill increases the burden on a person bringing a lawsuit alleging an asbestos and silica-related injury.

Asbestos-related diseases kill at least 10,000 Americans every year, in many cases from mesothelioma, an incurable and painful cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. For decades, asbestos was used for insulation and industrial purposes, and the diseases particularly affect veterans, firefighters, construction workers, and individuals who worked in factories with high-heat machinery. In Wisconsin, veterans groups have been some of the most vocal opponents of the legislation: veterans make up just 8 percent of the population, but are 30 percent of mesothelioma cases.

Crystalline silica is also deadly. It can be found in sand, gravel, and stone as well as sidewalks and building materials. Silica dust has been classified as a human lung carcinogen and results in fatalities and seriously disabling illnesses. According to OSHA, silica exposure “remains a serious threat to nearly 2 million U.S. workers, including more than 100,000 workers in high risk jobs such as abrasive blasting, foundry work, stonecutting, rock drilling, quarry work and tunneling.” ALEC wants to make it harder for injured workers or their families to seek compensation.

Other bills approved by ALEC around that time include:

Jury Patriotism Act (2002-2003)
Notice and Opportunity to Repair Act (2003-2004)
Drug and Alcohol Defense Act (2002-2003)
Constitutional Guidelines for Punitive Damages Act (2003)

After Pruitt became attorney general, he stayed engaged with ALEC on energy and environmental issues. ALEC is funded by a number of big polluters including Devon Energy, Peabody Energy, Koch Industries, and ExxonMobil. In 2014, the *New York Times* won a Pulitzer Prize after it filed an open records request and exposed the fact that Pruitt received a letter from Devon, put it on his state letterhead, and sent it to the EPA. The Devon lobbyist lauded this move as “Outstanding!”

A February 2013 email from Amy Anderson, the ALEC Civil Justice task force staffer, asked for the AG’s digital signature for an ALEC letter. Pruitt’s office zipped over the signature minutes later. The letter was not disclosed. Another email from Anderson to Pruitt and others, provides details of Pruitt’s participation in an energy workshop at ALEC’s May 2013 meeting.

Included in the email was an invitation to “a reception on the evening of the 3rd at the Petroleum Club.” The Petroleum Club is a swank private club for industry executives at the top of the Chase Tower in downtown Oklahoma City. Anderson also requested Pruitt’s attendance at a luncheon sponsored by Koch Industries because it “would be delightful to have our current legislative members benefit from his experience as a former state legislator, an ALEC member and a now attorney general.”

Pruitt spoke at a December 2013 ALEC meeting on a panel called “Embracing American Energy Opportunities: From Wellheads to Pipelines.” Now we know from the Pruitt emails that he was invited to speak at ALEC by an industry lobbyist named Peter Glaser, a partner at the law firm Troutman Sanders LLP. Glaser has represented Peabody Energy and other energy companies fighting EPA efforts to address climate change.

In 2014, Pruitt at another ALEC meeting that was sponsored by Peabody Energy, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).

During his speech about the President Obama Clean Power Plan, Pruitt touted a line that polluting industries would love: “Beyond the regional haze case, we have something on the horizon, something more troubling. And that’s the proposed rule under 111(d) with respect to CO2 regulation. We have an EPA that is engaged in rulemaking, proposed rulemaking, that seeks to exert itself in a way that the statute doesn’t authorize at all.” Pruitt would join a group of states in a legal attack on the Clean Power Plan, a historic effort to rein in power-plant pollution by one-third over a span of years.

KEEPING UP WITH THE KOCHS AS OKLAHOMA ATTORNEY GENERAL

The stack of Pruitt emails received by CMD reveal email exchanges between Aaron Cooper, Director of Public Affairs for the attorney general’s office and Matt Ball, Oklahoma State Director for Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the right-wing political advocacy arm of the Koch political empire.

July 2013 emails show Ball organizing an August 22 event featuring Pruitt, Sen. James Lankford (OK-R), and William Yeatman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Both Lankford and CEI have received Koch funding. In organizing the event, Ball helpfully instructs the AG’s staff on what he wants Pruitt to say,

“Frankly, I just assume the AG and Lankford talk sue and settle, how the EPA is deploying these tactics and what their respective offices have done on oversight and litigation, and let Yeatman from CEI give an objective analysis of costs to ratepayers from revised state implementation plan on regional haze (which includes the PSO rate increase). That way you guys don’t have to deliver those messages and can focus on what the AG does best, opposing the Obama administration and its nasty tactics on the environment.”

Industry groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce claim that agencies like EPA are “regulating” outside the normal rule making process when they are sued by environmentalist groups, like Greenpeace and Sierra Club, for not following the law and then settle those lawsuits in legally binding, court ordered agreements without inviting states or industry to participate.

Cooper promptly responds, “I think that what be good from our standpoint.” Ball, on August 14, sends an email with the final schedule detailed in which he praises Pruitt for “all they are doing to push back against President Obama’s EPA and its axis with liberal environmental groups.” Pruitt led a group of state attorneys general in suing the EPA for its correspondence with environmental groups.

In another email, Ball requests a same day meeting with Pruitt’s Chief of Staff and Assistant Attorney General, Melissa Houston and she agrees to meet him the next day in the AG’s conference room. The fractured emails do not indicate what the meeting was about.

Yet another email from December 2013, invites Dean Kuckelman, Senior Counsel, Litigation and Discovery, for Koch Companies Public Sector to a conference call with two of Pruitt’s assistant attorneys general and the Solicitor General. The topic of the conference is not known.

This email followed an email from Kuckelman to Houston with an attachment produced by the American Tort Reform (ATR) entitled, “Judicial Hell Holes.” The Kochs share ATR’s goals to make it harder for consumers to sue over products and services that kill or injure people. Judicial “hell holes” refer to states where it is easier for consumers to sue or unite in class action suits against giant, deep-pocketed corporations.

This is only a small sampling of the emails between Koch and ALEC staff and Pruitt staff, CMD is fighting for 1,600 pages withheld by Pruitt’s office in the lawsuit and additional emails, which will shed more light on these meetings and relationships.

The cozy relationship between Pruitt, the Kochs, ALEC crew, and the big polluters who fund ALEC will no doubt continue as Pruitt begins to dismantle the EPA.

Upon his appointment ALEC released a statement lauding Pruitt and claiming that Trump has “found just the right person to bring fresh leadership and much-needed reform to an agency currently out of control. Anyone who values striking a balance between sensible environmental regulations and the rule of law should delight in Pruitt’s appointment.”

While the corporate-fueled ALEC may be delighted, Americans concerned about the future of America’s lakes, bays, rivers, and more find Pruitt’s close relationship with polluters not very charming.

wfb (of course no linkage bet zika and agw)

Obama administration siphoned $500 million that could have gone toward combating the Zika virus into a United Nations effort aimed at mitigating climate change.

Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.) wrote in an op-ed published in theDaily Signal that the Senate last year granted Obama the authority to pay for a response to Zika, but his administration chose instead to allocate those funds toward the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund.

Lankford wrote:

Congress last December provided the Obama administration with authority to pull money from bilateral economic assistance to foreign countries. They can use those funds to combat infectious diseases, if the administration believed there is an infectious disease emergency. In the middle of the Zika epidemic, the administration did use their authority to pull money from foreign aid and spend it, but they didn’t use it for Zika. … In March, President Obama gave the United Nations $500 million out of an account under bilateral economic assistance to fund the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund. Congress refused to allocate funding for the U.N. Climate Change Fund last year, so the president used this account designated for international infectious diseases to pay for his priority.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recorded 618 cases of U.S. travel-associated Zika virus as of June 1. The number marks a stark increase since February when 107 cases were recorded.

Government officials have been pressuring the GOP-led Congress to pass the roughly $1.9 million in emergency funding for Zika preparedness that Obama requested in February.

But Lankford said funding that could be reallocated toward combatting Zika already exists despite the $500 million the administration contributed instead toward the U.N.’s climate change efforts.

The Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, and International Assistance Programs have a combined $80 billion in “unobligated” funds. A slice of this, Lankford said, could be redirected toward a response to the Zika epidemic without increasing the national debt.

Obama requested this authority in 2009 to respond to the H1N1 virus, for example.

“Zika is an important international crisis, but every crisis does not demand new ‘emergency funding’ that is all debt,” Lankford wrote. “If there is a way to avoid more debt, we should take that option.”

senate 2014

The 2014 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma will take place on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Oklahoma, concurrently with the regularly-scheduled election to Oklahoma's other Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

This special election is being held to fill the remaining two years of incumbent Republican Senator Tom Coburn's second term. Coburn, a strong supporter of term limits, had announced even before he was elected to the Senate in 2004 that he would only serve for two terms. After he was re-elected in 2010, he reaffirmed that he would not run for re-election in 2016.^[1][2]

In January 2014, Coburn announced he would resign at the end of the 113th United States Congress on January 3, 2015.^[3][4] As pursuant to Oklahoma law, he has submitted an "irrevocable letter of resignation" to take effect on that day. Thus, the special election will be held while he is still in office.^[5]

Unlike most states, except in very specific circumstances,^[a] Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin does not have the power to appoint a replacement Senator. Instead, state law requires her to schedule the special election "as soon as practicable".^[7]

Primary elections were held on June 24, 2014. The Republicans nominated U.S. Representative James Lankford; as no candidate in the Democratic primary received more than 50% of the vote, a primary runoff election will be held on August 26 between State Senator Constance N. Johnson and perennial candidate Jim Rogers. The general election will be held on November 4.^[8]

tp support/coatails 2010, chalnege in 2014: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/06/24/rep-james-lankford-defeats-tea-party-backed-candidate-in-gop-primary-for-oklahomas-open-senate-seat/

https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00031129

Top 5 Contributors, 2009 - 2014

Contributor	Total	Indivs	PACs
Devon Energy	$72,560	$42,560	$30,000
OGE Energy	$51,840	$36,340	$15,500
Chesapeake Energy	$42,650	$17,650	$25,000
Downing Wellhead Equipment	$36,800	$36,800	$0
American Bankers Assn	$31,600	$4,600	$27,000

...view more data

Top 5 Industries, 2009 - 2014

Industry	Total	Indivs	PACs
Oil & Gas	$458,010	$250,760	$207,250
Retired	$297,952	$297,952	$0
Health Professionals	$124,715	$99,215	$25,500
Commercial Banks	$119,400	$78,900	$40,500
Real Estate	$107,520	$91,520	$16,000

...view more data

===

http://newsok.com/energy-costs-debated-at-hearing-held-by-oklahoma-rep.-james-lankford/article/3755592

Energy costs debated at hearing held by Oklahoma Rep. James Lankford

by Chris CasteelModified: February 14, 2013 at 9:14 pm • Published: February 15, 2013

WASHINGTON — A hearing organized by Rep. James Lankford on Thursday to examine the rising costs of energy became a forum for partisan debate on climate change and federal regulations.

Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, kicked off his first hearing at the helm of the subcommittee on energy policy, health care and entitlements by blaming the Obama administration for regulatory overreach that limited energy supplies, while the top Democrat on the panel countered that oil and gas production was rising under the president's leadership.

Members of Congress have been holding a series of hearings in the last few weeks on fundamental questions about energy supplies and prices at a time when experts are predicting the current boom in oil and gas production could last for decades.

In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said the natural gas boom had lowered “nearly everyone's energy bill.”

Paula M. Carmody, who repres

e...

===

wiki

James Paul Lankford (born March 4, 1968) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional district^[1] since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.^[2][3]

From 1996 to 2009, Lankford was the student ministries and evangelism specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, and he was director of the Falls Creek youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center in Davis, Oklahoma. He stepped down on September 1, 2009, to run for Congress.^[4]

In January 2014, Lankford announced he would run in the 2014 special Senate election to succeed Tom Coburn.^[5] He subsequently won the June 2014 primary with 57% of the vote, becoming the Republican nominee for the November election.

[hide]

Early life and education:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:

Lankford was born March 4, 1968 in Dallas, Texas^[6] to James W. Lankford and Linda Lankford.^[citation ^needed] His mother was an elementary school librarian^[2] and homemaker.^[citation ^needed] His maternal grandparents owned a small dry cleaning business, his father and paternal grandparents a dairy farm. James’ stepfather was a career employee of AC Delco, the parts division of General Motors.^[7]

His parents divorced when he was four; his mother and older brother and he lived for a time in his grandparents' garage apartment. He became a Christian at eight. She remarried when he was twelve, and the family moved to Garland with his stepfather.^[2] Lankford attended Lakeview Centennial High School in Garland. While at Lakeview Lankford participated in the Close Up Washington civic education program.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education (specializing in Speech and History) at University of Texas at Austin in 1990, and master’s degree inDivinity at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1994.^[2]

Camp Program Director:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:

After graduating, he moved to Edmond and served with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. He became the program director of Falls Creek, the largest Christian camp in the U.S.^[4]

...

2012 election:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:

Lankford defeated Democrat Tom Guild with 59 percent of the vote. Following the election, he was named chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, the fifth-ranking position in the House Republican caucus. This is a very senior position for a second-term House member.

Committee assignments:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:

Committee on the Budget
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
- Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements (Chairman)^[8]
Republican Policy Committee (Chair)

Tenure:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:

Taxes

Lankford supports simple budget austerity through lowering taxes and reducing government spending.^[9] He took the taxpayer protection pledge promising to support no new taxes.^[9] He supports the repeal of the income and estate taxes and supports a sales tax to tax consumption and not savings or earnings.^[9]

Budget

Lankford is a supporter of budget austerity and thus supports prioritizing spending if the debt limit is reached and the Cut-Cap-and-Balance Pledge.^[9] He also supports a balanced budget amendment and voted to terminate the Home Affordable mortgage Program.^[9]

Jobs

He supports compensatory time-off for overtime workers and received a 100% rating by the CEI, indicating a pro-workplace choice stance.^[9]

Gun Rights

Lankford is a Gun Rights supporter loosen restrictions on interstate gun purchases.^[9] He opposes Firearm microstamping, a controversial method of imprinting casings with a unique marking to match it with a specific firearm, and would allow veterans to register unlicensed firearms.^[9]

Homeland Security

However he supports extending the Patriot Act and expanding roving wiretaps occurring in the US.^[9] Lankford supports the prioritization of security, starting with military bases.^[9]

Energy

He supports expanding exploration of gas and oil both domestically and on the outer continental shelf.^[9] He opposes the EPA regulating emission standards as he believes it hinders economic growth.^[9]

Environment

In addition to barring the EPA from regulating emission standards, Lankford believes manure and other fertilizers should not be classified as pollutants or hazardous.^[9]

Healthcare

Lankford has stated his belief that federally funded healthcare is unconstitutional and has made a statement that he will oppose any and all moves for a federal healthcare system.^[9] He supported an initiative to allow Medicare choice and also institute budget cuts.^[9]

Abortion

Lankford opposes abortion.^[9] He supports banning all federally funded abortions and believes Congress should recognize life at the moment of fertilization.^[9] He opposes any federally funded healthcare or coverage programs that allow for abortion, as well as Planned Parenthood and other similar groups.^[9] He also opposes forced abortions by the UN Population Fund.^[9]

Legislation sponsored:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:

Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act (H.R. 1423; 113th Congress) - Lankford introduced this bill into the House on April 9, 2013.^[10] The bill would require government agencies to identify and describe each program they administer, the cost to administer those programs, expenditures for services, the number of program beneficiaries, and the number of federal employees and contract staff involved.^[11] It would also require information on how the program gets evaluated.^[12] On February 25, 2014, the House voted to pass the bill by a voice vote.^[12]

2014 United States Senate election:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:

In January 2014, Lankford announced he would run in the 2014 special Senate election to succeed retiring Republican Senator Tom Coburn.^[13] Lankford won the June 2014 Republican primary, defeating former state House speaker T.W. Shannon and former state senator Randy Brogdon.^[14]