Lankford Ensures OK Military Installations Have Necessary Resources

CLICK HERE to download Lankford’s additional video remarks from Box. 

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today highlighted numerous provisions he worked to secure in the $847 billion Fiscal Year 2023 James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act (FY23 NDAA) for Oklahoma’s military installations and defense initiatives and highlighted funding and legislative language to move Oklahomans’ priorities and stop non-defense-related progressive policies that Democrats attempted to sneak into the final bill.

“Oklahoma’s Senior Senator Jim Inhofe has once again provided tireless work to pull together this defense bill, which is vital for our military to continue faithfully serving our nation in dangerous places around the world,” said Lankford. “I am grateful for Senator Inhofe’s partnership with me to ensure Oklahoma’s military installations have what they need for their missions and to stand together against ‘woke’ progressive policies the Biden Administration is trying to force on our service members. Our Oklahoma service members want to know they have our full support for them and their missions. This bill ensures our military can be confident in their work now and in the future. We need to do more than just say ‘thank you’ to our service members, we also need to have their backs when they need us.”

Lankford’s wins for Oklahoma’s military installations include:

• Maintains the missions of all of Oklahoma’s military installations and ensures they have the resources they need
• Provides a pay raise of 4.6 percent for military service members and the Department of Defense civilian workforce
• Encourages the Department of Defense to form partnerships with several of Oklahoma’s top universities, including the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Tulsa and private industry to invest in Oklahoma’s future innovation
• Includes millions in science & technology projects that are important to Oklahoma and our military
• Ensures the Air Force keeps two E-3 AWACS at Tinker Air Force Base for training, rather than retiring the aircraft.
• Includes $300 million in additional funds to accelerate the E-7 Wedgetail, which will replace the E-3 AWACS at Tinker Air Force Base
• Requires the Government Accountability Office to issue a report on the Defense Health Agency’s (DHA) oversight over the TRICARE managed care contracts, which will include helpful information on the DHA’s recent decision to cut 15,000 rural, independent pharmacies from its network, which Lankford has fought against for several months.
• Includes Lankford’s amendment to fully fund the Tulsa VA medical center despite rising construction costs due to Biden’s high inflation
• Includes Lankford’s amendment to end the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all service members

Lankford worked to stop negative policy provisions from getting into the final bill including the expansion of the Selective Service to include women, which he opposes, a House Democrat amendment that would have allowed “woke” data collection on our military, and two House Democrat amendments that would have required our Armed Forces to make “diversity” disclosures and provide grants to “woke “small businesses.

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