Need to know the best place to play golf or to get a haircut in northwestern Oklahoma?

Peyton Burns is the person to ask.

A Kingfisher High School and Oklahoma State University alum, Burns is the field representative in that portion of the state for U.S. Sen. James Lankford.

Burns spoke last Thursday to Kingfisher Lions Club members about his role.

“It’s really important for Senator Lankford to be present in the communities he represents,” Burns said.

That’s where he steps in. Burns said he drives several hundred miles a week visiting those communities and speaking with Lankford’s constituents.

“I like the open road,” he said. “But I also like to find a good golf course everywhere I go and find a good place to get a haircut in those communities.”

But Burns isn’t just making birdies and getting his neckline cleaned up.

He’s talking with the people of northwestern Oklahoma.

Among their biggest concerns?

“Prices,” he said. “The price of everything with infl ation being high.”

There are also the areas in which the government has proven slow to serve, such as issuing passports.

Burns said he’s been alerted to people paying for an expedited passport, but still having to wait eight months to receive one.

“The senator has co-sponsored several bills to try to help speed that up,” Burns said.

Lankford, who recently spoke at a town hall meeting in Kingfisher, is also active in working to lower drug prices, most notably making pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) more accountable, said Burns.

Lankford is on the Senate Committee on Finance, including serving as the ranking member on the Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Subcommittee.

Congress is currently working on passing its next budget and, more specifically, getting the budget bills passed through 12 subcommittees.

Burns noted Lankford recently voted against raising the debt ceiling.

One of the reasons, Burns said, was that it doesn’t address the country’s diving further into debt each year.

“We’ll be paying more next year to pay off our debt than we will be paying for education,” Burns said.

Burns was joined at the meeting by Quinton Gray, Lankford’s new field rep in the Tulsa area.

Also on hand was Wesley Javorsky, a field rep for Congressman Frank D. Lucas.

Javorsky echoed a lot of the concerns among Lucas’ constituents in the third district of Oklahoma.

He said Lucas, currently recovering from a broken hip, has been busy working on the passage of the next Farm Bill.

Lucas is the longest-serving member on the House Committee on Agriculture and the 2018 Farm Bill is set to “unwind” this year.

Javorsky predicted an extension to be filed for the Farm Bill as Congress works to finalize the new version.