Dear Oklahoma friends and neighbors: February went by fast, didn’t it? I spent multiple weeks this month fighting for the DHS funding and traveling around Oklahoma including our state Capitol, Watonga, Del City, Lawton, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Enid, and Edmond to talk through what’s happening in our nation’s capital but also to hear from veterans, local faith leaders, students, first responders, economic development leaders, aerospace tech innovators, and more.
Our state continues to see frequent fire danger warnings, and we have already had some devastating wildfire activity in the northwest part of our state. As we all know, March is on its way, which means the uninvited guest of severe weather will show up again. I worked to create a resource for the moment when natural disasters and emergencies strike our families and neighborhoods. Your first points of contact in a disaster are those provided by our Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management, run by Director Annie Vest and her great team of professionals. My guide provides the federal resources and partners available to us when it moves from local to national and we have a federal disaster declaration.
As we rapidly approach storm season, The Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, the Coast Guard, TSA, along with ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), remains shut down. Democrats in the Senate continue to block the funding bill so they can protest ICE operations and protest President Trump, even though ICE is only a very small part of the Department of Homeland Security, and ICE funding was actually provided in last summer’s reconciliation bill. So ICE is not even impacted by the shutdown but FEMA, TSA, and our cybersecurity operations are massively impacted. I continue to work and pray for a resolution so we can pay the 250,000 Homeland Security professionals who are mostly working without pay right now.
State of the Union Recap President Trump’s State of the Union address was long, informative, and inspiring. He rightly acknowledged that this year marks the 250th year since the Declaration of Independence was signed. He recognized our remarkable beginning and clearly articulated the role America plays on our globe. We still have a very bright future ahead of us as we work to form a more perfect union.
His speech focused on the ways we have succeeded in leveling off prices in many areas and bringing down prices on eggs (down 60%), gas (down by more than half), and mortgage rates. Even though there is still more work to do to get our economy going, we currently have the highest number of people working in our country that we’ve ever had. He also talked about the prosecution of crime across the US and the drop in crime rates in key areas, including Washington, DC, where our Oklahoma National Guard are directly assisting while on deployment right now. He talked about his tremendous work to close our border from illegal immigration, boost our economy, and dramatically reduce the illegal fentanyl pouring into our nation.
He also talked about foreign policy like Venezuela and Iran, which remains the largest statesponsor of terrorism in the world and is now working to rebuild their nuclear weapons program at break-neck speed. That’s a problem for us and the entire world. He made crystal clear that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
The longest State of the Union address to date had much more in it than I can write in this e-newsletter, but to learn more, you can watch my quick video rundown of the speech late Tuesday night after it concluded.
The Newest Installment of my Federal Fumbles Government Waste Book It’s Federal Fumbles season again. This 9th edition of my government waste book looks at the spending and inefficiencies that leave many Oklahomans scratching their heads about what Washington is doing with their money and why government is not working properly. There are browraising research projects, dollars sent overseas with little oversight, fraud in food programs, shutdowns that cost billions, and more.
Fumbles is about more than making the penalty calls; it also lays out the playbook for me and my team to fix the waste. From cracking down on COVID fraud, to untangling a disaster relief system that runs through more than 30 agencies, to stopping programs that waste money, and passing my Prevent Government Shutdowns Act.
Fumbles also highlights touchdowns like the Working Families Tax Cut Act, which made permanent reforms like my Charitable Act and ALIGN Act, to help families and small businesses, increase the number of child care facilities in our state.