National Taxpayers Union Honors Senator Lankford as Top-ranked “Taxpayers’ Friend”

OKLAHOMA, CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) was recognized as the top-ranked Senator with the “Taxpayers’ Friend Award” from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) for his strong record in support of lower taxes, limited government, and economic freedom. Lankford was ranked first of only 15 Senators to earn the “Taxpayers’ Friend Award.”

“I’m grateful to NTU and its continued commitment to ensure American taxpayers know that some in Congress are still focused on legislation that will lower taxes, remove duplicative and wasteful spending, and promote economic freedom,” said Lankford. “These are all principals I seek to achieve with every vote I take, and I will continue to support legislation that eliminates federal waste, cuts taxes, and fixes the broken budget process.”

NTU President Pete Sepp said, “Only lawmakers with a voting record that is the best-of-the-best will earn NTU’s Taxpayers’ Friend Award. Lankford has demonstrated a tireless commitment to supporting taxpayers’ interests in Washington and a dedication to solving the government’s tax-and-spend problems with action rather than just words. Fixing America’s budget problems takes hard work, and Lankford has been doing that work every single day.”

Most notably, Lankford supported the 2017 tax reform bill, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered tax rates for the middle class, simplified tax rates for every American, and changed the business tax climate.

Lankford chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and Federal Management. As chairman, he introduced regulatory bills to improve the process of how regulations are made by facilitating greater transparency and accountability in the federal rulemaking process. He also introduced the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act to require federal agencies to analyze the full impact of proposed regulation on small businesses during the rulemaking process, and the Taxpayers Right to Know Act, a bipartisan bill which would require the federal government to make public the details, costs, and performance metrics of every federal program that costs more than $1 million.

Currently, the national debt is more than $21 trillion with more than $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities and hundreds of failing and duplicative federal programs. Lankford has provided a number of solutions to decrease the national deficit and debt, remove cumbersome regulations, and eliminate duplicative programs throughout the federal government with the annual release of Federal Fumbles: 100 Ways the Government Dropped the Ball.

Earlier this year, Lankford was appointed to the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, a bipartisan, bicameral panel tasked with reforming the entire budget and appropriations process. Lankford has also proposed budget changes, government shutdown prevention incentives, and the elimination of budgeting gimmicks.

NTU included 98 Senate votes in the 2017 scorecard. NTU’s rating program is designed to calculate a Member’s voting record on fiscal responsibility by evaluating every vote that has an impact on tax, spending, trade, and regulatory policy utilizing a methodical weighting system. No other fiscal policy scorecard is as comprehensive as NTU’s. This year Lankford scored 94 percent on the group’s rating scale. The average Senate rating was 44 percent.

NTU has recognized Representatives and Senators since 1979 who annually earn high voting scores to qualify them for the “Taxpayers’ Friend Award.”

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