Press Releases
Lankford, Senate Colleagues Ask Treasury to Provide Relief for Oklahoma Opportunity Zones in the Wake of COVID-19
WASHINGTON, DC - The 2008 financial crisis showed the entire country that low-income communities are often the first hit and last to recover during times of economic instability. Fortunately, as the United States begins to reopen this year following the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a new tool to help the most economically distressed communities: Opportunity Zones.Senators James Lankford and Tim Scott (R-SC) are leading Senate colleagues in asking the US Department of Treasury an… Continue Reading
04.30.20
Lankford Calls For Clarity to the Paycheck Protection Program to Ensure Oklahoma Small Businesses Aren’t Penalized for Multiple Application Attempts
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management Subcommittee are calling for the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Treasury Department to ensure small businesses across the country that apply to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) multiple times due to delayed processing and confusion are not penalized for their multiple attempts. Lankford and Sinema argue there must be a way to dist… Continue Reading
04.29.20
Lankford Joins Bipartisan Call for Equal Telephone-based Health Services Reimbursements
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today joined 36 Senators in advocating for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to increase telephone-based, or audio-only, telehealth reimbursements to equal other audio-visual telehealth and in-person visitation reimbursements. Many Americans do not have access to reliable broadband, making it nearly impossible to use video-sharing to receive telehealth services during the COVI… Continue Reading
04.29.20
Lankford Joins Bipartisan Letter Supporting Main Street Associations
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today joined a bipartisan letter with 17 other senators asking that local trade and professional associations become eligible for assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in any future coronavirus stimulus bill. The letter to Senate leadership and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship requests support for 501(c)(6) associations, which are major drivers of Main Street economic development. These entities incl… Continue Reading
04.28.20
Senators Lankford and Hassan Press Administration on Counterterrorism Efforts Amid COVID-19
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), both members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called for answers on what the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and Intelligence Community are doing to address ongoing and emerging terrorist threats amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Senators detail in their bipartisan letter, there is evidence of both foreign and domestic potential terrorists trying to take advantage of the COVID-… Continue Reading
04.24.20
Oklahoma Delegation Applauds Administration Allowing Publicly Owned Hospitals Inclusion in CARES Act Programs
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and Oklahoma's Congressional Delegation today released the following statements after the Small Business Administration (SBA) clarified this morning that publicly owned rural hospitals will be eligible to receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and other financial assistance relief provided through the CARES Act: Lankford: "I am grateful for SBA's attention to the important issue we raised that will allow Oklahoma's rural, municipality-o… Continue Reading
04.22.20
Lankford Calls on FCC to Expand Rural Broadband, Update 5G Coverage Maps
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) today called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to update the broadband coverage maps being used to distribute the 5G Fund's $9 billion to expand reliable broadband access across America. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become increasingly clear that millions in America, especially those in largely rural states like Oklahoma, do not have the reliable broadband … Continue Reading
04.22.20
Lankford urges Senate, House Leadership to Stop Taxpayer Funding for China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senator James Lankford (R-OK) along with Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ), Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and a bicameral coalition of over 50 other lawmakers sent a letter to Senate and House leadership requesting no COVID-19 relief funds be appropriated to China's notorious state-run bio-agent laboratory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Reports indicate that for years WIV has received taxpayer dollars from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for secretive and … Continue Reading
04.21.20
Lankford Supports More Relief for Oklahoma’s Small Businesses, Workers, and Hospitals
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today issued a statement after the Senate unanimously voted to provide additional funding to hospitals, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). PPP and EIDL programs were created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. PPP ran out of money after 10-days. "Oklahoma small businesses and workers saw funding for both the Paycheck Protection Program and the EIDL advances run … Continue Reading
04.20.20
Lankford, Rosen Statement Commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Today, Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), co-chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, released the following statement in commemoration of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. "During the horrors of the Holocaust, six million Jews and millions of others were taken from us," said the Senators. "Today, communities across the globe look back on this dark chapter of history in remembrance of those who were lost, with… Continue Reading
04.20.20
Senator Lankford to Host Virtual Town Hall with Governor Stitt THURSDAY
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - The Office of Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today announced that Lankford will host a virtual town on Thursday, April 23, 2020, with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R-OK). The town hall will focus on state and federal resources available to Oklahomans during a time of COVID-19. Lankford will also provide an update on additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program which was created from passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March. … Continue Reading
04.20.20
Lankford Calls for SBA to Continue Accepting Paycheck Protection Program Applications
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today joined Senators Todd Young (R-IN), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), John Cornyn (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Rand Paul (R-KY) to send a letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) requesting that lenders be permitted to submit applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) despite the program's funding lapse. Enabling lenders to continue processing applications would help alleviate the already deve… Continue Reading
04.17.20
Oklahoma Delegation Urges Top Administration Officials to Make Publicly Owned Hospitals Eligible for Paycheck Protection Program
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today joined Oklahoma's Congressional Delegation, led by Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03), penned a letter to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, US Small Business Administrator Jovita Carranza, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell urging that publicly trusted hospitals be made eligible for Paycheck Protection Program loans and other financial assistance programs. In Oklahoma, 43 rural hospitals are designated as a Public Trust making them… Continue Reading
04.17.20
Oklahoma Delegation Commemorates 25th Anniversary of Oklahoma City Bombing
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Today, Oklahoma's Congressional Delegation joined to honor and remember the tragic loss of lives in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 19, 1995. Twenty-five years ago, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was the target of America's deadliest act of domestic terrorism, claiming the lives of 168 individuals, including 19 children. CLICK HERE to watch the video on YouTube. Senator James Lankford: "Twenty-five years ago, on a d… Continue Reading
04.16.20
Lankford, Leahy Urge State Department And DHS To Exercise Discretion And Grant Relief To Vulnerable Refugees And Special Immigrant Visa Holders
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) are urging Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to exercise discretion and automatically extend the validity periods of critical documents for refugees and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders approved for resettlement in the United States until COVID-19 travel restrictions are lifted. They emphasized that this small, reasonable measure would provide much… Continue Reading
04.16.20
Lankford Leads Bipartisan Letter to HHS to Advocate for Relief for Senior Communities and Health Care Workers
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today led a bipartisan letter joined by 26 Senators to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to ensure that as HHS sets guidelines for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF), they do not overlook the providers within nursing homes, skilled nursing centers, senior living communities, independent living, assisted living, memory care, and continuing care retirement communities who are devotedly caring for our nation's … Continue Reading
04.16.20
President Trump Taps Lankford and Inhofe to Serve on Coronavirus Economic Task Force
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Today, President Trump asked Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) to serve on the Task Force on Economic Recovery. The bipartisan task force, comprised of other members of the Senate and House of Representatives, will advise the president on the re-opening of America in the wake of COVID-19. "Our nation and the world have been faced with an incredible challenge in the last couple of months," Lankford said. "As Oklahomans, we've kept our distance, acted in the… Continue Reading
04.14.20
Lankford, Wicker & Senators Urge Trump to Keep Pro-Life Protections for Coronavirus Research
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), today wrote President Donald J. Trump to ask the Administration to maintain pro-life protections during the search for treatments and cures for COVID-19. The Senators' letter, which was signed by 34 senators, refutes a request by 15 pro-abortion state attorneys general requesting waivers to prohibitions on the use of fetal tissue for coronavirus research. "These attempts to exploit the current crisis faced by our nation… Continue Reading
04.14.20
Lankford, Inhofe Lead Letter to Treasury, SBA to Ensure Protection for Faith-based Entities
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) today led a letter joined by 17 Senators to Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Jovita Carranza, Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to thank them for the recently issued interim final rule on protections for faith-based entities during the continued rollout of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and related federal economic relief. The Administration also issued an… Continue Reading
04.14.20
Lankford, Portman Urge President Trump to Use IGs to Ensure Federal Government Serves American Taxpayer Effectively & Efficiently
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Today, Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Rob Portman (R-OH) wrote a letter to President Trump urging him to use Inspectors General (IG) to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used in the most effective and efficient way. With trillions of taxpayer dollars being spent by the federal government to respond to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, it is imperative that independent IGs are in place to prevent waste, fraud, and mismanagement. The senators stand ready to confirm qualified … Continue Reading
