WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today voted to support a bill to fully fund the federal government for the remaining seven months of the fiscal year (ends September 30, 2019). The bill, which passed in a bipartisan vote of 83 to 16, includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security and related agencies after a Conference Committee negotiated the final version following passage of a continuing resolution on January 25, 2019. It also contains funding for the six remaining appropriations bills: Commerce, Justice, Science; State and Foreign Operations; Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development; Interior; Agriculture; and Financial Services and General Government.
“Finishing last year’s work in February is reprehensible, and it means we must immediately prioritize the funding plan for the next fiscal year,” said Lankford. “Though the funding bill public debate centered on border security, the funding package also included vital funding for 25 percent of the federal government’s operations. In addition to the vital provisions on border security fencing, the bill funds new immigration judges, increases border security agents, and maintains ICE’s ability to detain individuals who do not have legal status. The Democrats fought hard to restrict ICE’s ability to enforce key immigration laws, but the final negotiated bill demonstrates our commitment to the important work of ICE agents.”
Last Congress, Senator Lankford served as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG). The bill that passed today contains the Senate-passed version of the appropriations bill his Committee offered last year, which received wide bipartisan support when it passed the Committee in 2018 for the first time since 2007. Lankford spoke on the Senate floor about the benefits to Oklahomans in the FSGG bill like funding for tax reform implementation, law enforcement support, and combating drug trafficking.
Lankford now serves on the following Appropriations Subcommittees: FSGG; State and Foreign Operations; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; and Legislative Branch.
