Senator Lankford Statement on Raising the Debt Ceiling

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) issued the following statement on H.R. 3877, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019:

“At $22 trillion in debt, even the most conservative of budget proposals include debt ceiling increases, but those moments must be used to confront the serious fiscal challenges facing our nation’s future. We should have pursued a plan that includes a long-term proposal to address both our immediate fiscal challenges and a plan that ultimately consists of a way to pay down the debt increases. We shouldn’t raise the national debt ceiling without cutting back on overspending. Our budget process is broken, and we will not get a better product until we have a better process. I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to implement commonsense proposals that turn our fiscal situation around, get us out of debt, and lead us to prosperity.”

Background:

On July 18, 2019, Lankford spoke on the Senate floor to discuss his bipartisan plan to avert government shutdowns, the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. Lankford introduced the bipartisan Prevent Government Shutdowns Act earlier this year with Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH). Last year, Lankford served on the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform. The Joint Select Committee was established by Congress on February 9, 2018, and was composed of 16 Members of Congress: four Senate Republicans—including Lankford, Perdue, and Ernst—four Senate Democrats, four House Republicans, and four House Democrats. The members had until November 30, 2018, to agree to changes in the budget and appropriations process and present them to Congress for a full vote. On November 29, the select committee’s product did not receive the votes required to move forward. He along with Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and David Perdue (R-GA) introduced several amendments that would have achieved a number of budget reform priorities, including No Budget, No Recess. In November 2018, Lankford released an episode on his podcast, The Breakdown with James Lankford, focused on budget reform.

Lankford has outlined wasteful federal government spending in his annual waste report, Federal Fumbles, Ways the Government Dropped the Ball. The report includes a list of solutions on how wasteful spending can be reduced.

Lankford is a member of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations.

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