Sen. James Lankford said Thursday on Newsmax that Congress must act to prevent a government shutdown and reform Senate rules that have stalled confirmations of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
“Well, I can tell you right now we’re going to get it done,” Lankford told Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “Actually, the frustration on the government shutdown is that every time we get close to this, we start the countdown clock. We have 12 bills that have to be done. We’re not going to get 12 bills done in the next 14 days.”
The Oklahoma Republican pointed to his proposed legislation aimed at ending shutdown showdowns.
“My focus, as it has been for a long time, is we need to stop government shutdowns. I have a bill that actually prevents government shutdowns. Every member of the Republican conference has signed on to this bill. For the last two sessions, we’ve not been able to get Democrats to be able to come on board,” he said.
The senator argued the bill would force lawmakers to remain in session until budget fights are resolved without punishing the public.
“We’re $37 trillion in debt,” Lankford said. “We should have big budget fights, but we shouldn’t have a government shutdown. So let’s hold the American people harmless. Let’s stay in session continuously, which is what my bill does.”
Turning to the Senate’s slow confirmation process, Lankford blasted Democrats for obstructing Trump’s staffing efforts.
“No, we need to change the rules in a way that it works, [keeping it] neutral for every president when the president of the United States is elected,” he said. “They have a right to be able to get their own staff in place. Right now, Democrats are trying to say ‘President Trump was duly elected — we’ll acknowledge that. But he can’t have any staff.’ Well, that’s absolutely ridiculous.”
He contrasted past precedent with today’s gridlock.
“Typically, you go back 20 years ago, 98% of the people were done by voice vote. That means it took seconds. They went through committee. They were approved by committee, came to the floor,” Lankford said. “This president, as you mentioned, 0%. Zero. Zero. No. Every single one of them requires a filibuster, cloture vote, and two hours of debate,” he said, noting there are more than 1,200 nominees to confirm.
Lankford said a bipartisan rule change is necessary to ensure future presidents are not handicapped by partisanship.
“We’re going to push a rule change through that works for every party, no matter who they are,” he said. “We’re not talking about cabinet secretaries here. We’re talking about the undersecretary to the deputy secretary of stuff.”
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