Lankford Issues Statement on President Trump’s Budget Proposal to Congress

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) issued a statement on the released of President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal:

“The biggest issue we face as a nation is our growing national debt and skyrocketing deficits. Nearly three-quarters of our unchecked spending is on auto-pilot and continues to dramatically rise each year. Now is the time to lay out a bold plan to manage our nation’s out-of-control spending, and actually lower the national debt by eliminating the wastefulness and duplication that plague our federal budget. I’m encouraged that reforms are at the forefront of the President’s budget proposal this year, including a responsible glide path to balance the budget in 15 years. I encourage my colleagues to at least read and consider some of these proposals and adopt some of the solutions to lower our spending and put us on a path to lower our national debt. The proposal from the White House is a starting point; it is Congress’ responsibility to appropriate funds for federal programs, conduct rigorous oversight, and address our overspending. In the days ahead I look forward to reviewing the details of the President’s 1400 page budget proposal.”

Background

No president’s budget has ever become law. It is simply a starting point for annual appropriations decisions made by Congress to fund every agency, organization, and program in the federal government. Lankford is a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations which has jurisdiction to appropriate federal tax dollars received by the Federal treasury. 

Lankford has pushed for commonsense, practical reforms to address our debt and deficit. Since 2015, Lankford has introduced a federal waste and solutions report to provides a way to address the national debt and deficit called Federal Fumbles: Ways the government dropped the ball. In his latest report, Lankford listed $383 billion in wasteful and inefficient federal spending on a variety of programs and processes throughout the federal government. Following the release in November 2019, Lankford spoke about the report on the Senate floor and covered why addressing our nation’s national debt and the deficit is important. Lankford has pursued a number of solutions to address some of the largest and smallest areas of waste, including making significant reforms to the budget and appropriations process. In addition to the Appropriations Committee, Lankford also served on the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform in 2018. Lankford continues to address government shutdowns, which cost taxpayers billions of dollars with his bipartisan Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act holds Members of Congress accountable and protects the taxpayers by keeping Members and their staffs in DC until the work to fund the government is complete.

In 2019, Lankford was recognized as one of the top 10 most conservative members of the Senate for his record of addressing the national debt and deficit.

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