ICYMI: Lankford Testifies Before House Appropriations Committee on Ending Government Shutdowns Forever

WASHINGTON, DC — US Senator James Lankford (R-OK) testified Wednesday before the House Appropriations Committee in support of his bipartisan, bicameral Prevent Government Shutdowns Act , which would take government shutdowns off the table and require Congress to stay in Washington until its work is done. The hearing marked the Committee’s first full committee oversight hearing since 2008. Lankford testified alongside Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA-05) and former Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young. Excerpts from Lankford’s prepared opening statement: “Sharee Quick is a TSA officer in Las Vegas. During the last shutdown, she showed up to work every day with no pay. She had to make decisions every week whether she should put gas in her car or pay her electricity bill. She went more than 40 days without a paycheck. She didn’t know how she was going to pay for her essential blood pressure medication. That happened because we didn’t resolve our differences on time. “Federal workers and their families should not suffer when Congress has not finished the yearly appropriations work. But they do. Some of you in this room may remember the December 2018 shutdown, when Congress left town for Christmas, but federal workers got lumps of coal. “How can we actually solve this? And I say: solve this together. Today, I am bringing you something unique: a nonpartisan proposal. Seven years ago, I sat down with my Democratic colleague Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire to develop a plan to end government shutdowns in a nonpartisan way. We worked alongside Representatives Arrington and Panetta to get more input and ideas. “The bill does not solve every fiscal and budgetary problem we need to address, but it does solve one thing: it prevents government shutdowns. “My mom was a schoolteacher, school librarian, and school administrator her whole career. She would have said, ‘If you do not finish your work during class, you have to stay after school until it is finished.'” On How PGSA Puts Pressure on Congress Instead of Federal Workers: Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03): “Can you explain how your proposal would facilitate bipartisan compromise, when many of us think that it would likely facilitate more entrenched partisan disagreement?” Lankford: “This particular proposal puts the pressure on us, not on federal workers. Right now, the leverage to get our work done is TSA agents not getting paid, air traffic control not getting paid, federal law enforcement not getting paid. Those families are the leverage for us to do our work. Those families have nothing to do with our inability to be able to get things finished up. I want to put the leverage on us, not on federal workers and their families. And the best way to do that is basically to force us to stay in the room until we’re finished negotiating. “I go back to my mom again. My best advice ever came from my mom. When my brother and I would have an argument in the living room, she would make both of us leave and go to one of our rooms and say, ‘If you guys are going to fight, go over there and fight. Don’t disturb the rest of the family. When you’re done, then you can come back in here.’ That basically puts all of us, House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats, to say you can’t do anything but appropriations, and you’re going to stay there until appropriations is done. When appropriations is done, then you can go home or move to other subjects. But until you do appropriations, you can’t leave or switch other things. I think that puts the pressure where it needs to be, on us.” On Support from Representative Steny Hoyer: Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05): “I want to thank you for this thoughtful proposal. I will tell you, I am very much supportive of your proposal. You cannot consider other legislation until must-pass legislation. And the only must-pass legislation is the appropriation bills. None of the authorizing bills are must-pass. Consequences will occur, but they will not shut down government if they don’t pass. “And I want to thank you for a thoughtful presentation and the way that you always present yourself and your issues in a constructive, positive way. And I look forward to working with you as we go forward. Because as majority leader, I indicated to the Appropriations Committee and Shalanda Young, I want the bills ready to go to the floor by June 1st. I want all the bills considered in June… So I thank the gentleman. I thank you. I look forward to working with them.” Background Since its initial introduction in 2019, the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act has earned support from 31 organizations and policy experts across the ideological spectrum. Supporters include 11 labor and federal workforce organizations, among them the American Federation of Government Employees, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the National Treasury Employees Union, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Association of Flight Attendants, and the United Steelworkers; conservative and free market organizations including Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, and the National Taxpayers Union; veterans organizations including Concerned Veterans for America and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; and good government groups including the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and the Partnership for Public Service. You can watch Lankford’s full opening remarks HERE . You can download the exchanges from the hearing HERE . ###