Oklahoma Senator James Lankford communicated with his constituents through Facebook Live recently to provide the latest update on his bipartisan Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. The bill requires all Members of Congress, staff and the Office of Management and Budget must stay in the nation’s capital and work until the spending bills are completed if appropriations work is not done on time. This will prevent future threats of a government-wide shutdown, continue critical services and operations for Americans and hold federal workers harmless while Congress completes appropriations.
Last week, Senator Lankford spoke on the Senate floor as Congress nears another fiscal deadline with no appropriations bills passed or continuing resolution. During his speech, Lankford outlined the people who are most impacted by government shutdowns, including the Border Patrol agents who will not get paid and have an even bigger strain on their ability to secure the border.
“We need to be able to have the debate on debt and deficit—100 percent that needs to occur,” said Lankford. “We have 33 trillion dollars in debt. We don’t need to have that during a government shutdown because a government shutdown ends up hurting federal workers, the American people who are trying to get ahold of an agency and no one will answer the phone. It actually costs more money to be able to do a shutdown.”