Russian aggression, voter suppression and the next recession are among the topics U.S. Sen. James Lankford discussed in a visit to Kingfisher Monday afternoon.

Lankford (R-Okla.), his wife Cindy and field representative Tanner Roberts met at the Shed restaurant with a group of local government and business leaders and other local residents.

Those present included State Sen. Darcy Jech (R-Kingfisher), State Rep. Mike Dobrinski (R-Okeene), Vice Mayor Wendell Prim, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative General Manager Richard Ruhl and his successor Blake Callaham, former state representative Mike Sanders and son Davis, Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Shauna Rupp and chamber board president Brian Henderson; Kingfisher County Republican Women president Toni Pickle and member Judy Whipple, Jalaina Hammett from the Center of Family Love and local businessman Jack Stuteville.

Russian Aggression

Lankford said he’d recently sat in a classified briefing on Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine, which was part of the Russian empire for centuries until winning independence in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

“It’s serious,” he said of Russia amassing 100,000 troops on the Ukraine border. “No one knows if Putin will pull the trigger (to invade) or when.”

Lankford described Ukraine as a U.S. ally, although not a member of NATO.

“Their military has been trained in part by the Oklahoma National Guard,” he said, noting that the guard spent a full year in the country training the Ukraine army on both offensive and defensive tactics.

Lankford is concerned that mixed messages from the Biden Administration are escalating tensions, rather than de-escalating.

“When the president says things like ‘minor incursions will be treated differently,’ that sends a bad message,” Lankford said.

“This looks very much like the situation in Crimea during the Obama Administration when Russia was using diplomatic talks as a ruse and they were invading even while diplomats were meeting for discussions,” he said.

“If Russia is successful in Ukraine, Poland is next. Russia on the move is a huge issue.”

Lankford pointed out not only the political implications but the economic impact of Russia controlling a major natural gas pipeline to Europe that goes through Ukraine.

“Coal and natural gas prices will go up,” he said. “It’s a situation that’s going to hit everyone’s pocketbooks.”

“Why isn’t the U.S. making a more aggressive response?” Pioneer Telephone Cooperative General Manager Richard Ruhl asked.

Lankford laid the blame on the current inaction of Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Russia would not have made these moves with Trump and [former U.S. Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo,” Lankford said. “They just wouldn’t.”

Filibuster Bluster

“Last week was noisy to say the least in the Senate,” Lankford said, referring to the Democrats’ failed attempt to eliminate the filibuster.

Because 60 votes are currently required to stop debate, the Senate minority can filibuster – continue debating indefinitely – to keep bills it doesn’t support from coming to a vote.

“The filibuster has been around since the beginning of the Senate,” he said. “There’s never been a time when a simple majority (51 votes) could move legislation.

“That forces us to find a consensus, to debate it out on the floor and behind the scenes, and come to a resolution.

“The voice of the minority in this country has always been heard in the Senate and needs to continue to be heard.”

Lankford dismissed Democrat claims that Republicans would vote to end the filibuster if they were in the majority.

“The GOP never did when we were in the majority,” he said. “We had the numbers to do it and we didn’t.”

Voting Rights Bill

“Biden’s voting rights bill was frustrating because he said it was about stopping voter suppression and it’s not,” Lankford said.

In addition to eliminating voter ID requirements and allowing voter registration on the same day as an election, the bill would have provided tax dollars for federal office candidates on a six-one match.

“Not only would it have provided candidates with $6 for every $1 raised by their campaigns, but it would have allowed that money to be spent to pay the candidate a salary,” Lankford said.

He said that Oklahoma was on a list of 34 states identified by the Democrats as “suppressing votes.”

“That was for legislation that extended the number of days to request an absentee ballot from seven to 15,” Lankford said. “Oklahoma did that at the request of the post office because they could not ensure that ballots could be sent out and back within seven days.

“Actually, that change is not suppression but an effort to make sure that every vote counts. Interestingly, the state of New York made the exact same change and they are not on the voter suppression list.”

Midterm Outlook

Mike Sanders, former state representative, asked Lankford for his prediction on the outcome of this year’s congressional elections.

“Most of the time midterm elections are a statement on the president’s popularity,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we flipped 30 seats or more this year.”

He noted that 20 GOP and 14 Democrats are up for re-election in the Senate, including four Democrat seats he identified as “clearly vulnerable.”

“If we flip the Senate, I’ll be chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, which is a big committee with broad jurisdiction of border security, personnel policies, cyber security, among others.” Presidential Prognostication

“Everyone knows Biden won’t run again,” Lankford said about the next presidential election.

Local businessman Jack Stuteville asked Lankford whether he thought Trump would seek the GOP nomination.

“Trump is acting like he’s running and I don’t see a doubt that he’d have a clear path to nomination,” Lankford said. “Typically presidential candidates announce their intentions after the midterm elections, but Trump has been anything but typical.”

Lankford said his differences with Trump were not over policy.

“I appreciate his policies but he was toxic in the way he did it,” he said.

As to Trump’s criticisms of Lankford for certifying the election results on Jan. 6, 2021, Lankford said:

“All 100 Senators certified the election on Jan. 6. We had a responsibility to follow the constitution and we did that.”

“We’re proud to have a person up there of your character who continues to do the right thing,” Stuteville said.

“Our theme in my office is to do the right thing but also do it in the right way,” Lankford said.

Economic Concerns

State Sen. Darcy Jech expressed concern about the economic impact of federal Covid relief funds sent to the states.

“How we’re going to pay for it is my number 1 concern but also the fact that we can’t sustain that level of spending even though our state agencies will expect that in the future,” he said.

“There is no serious conversation going on about how we’re going to pay for it (massive relief spending) in D.C.,” he said. “Our interest payment alone has increased from $320 billion to $450 billion. That’s just the interest.

“The inflation we’re experiencing now is because we spent $2 trillion last March, which increased labor costs nationwide, which impacted the supply chain just as people had more money to spend.

“We’re at 7% inflation and we haven’t seen that since 1982 when we were coming out of the Carter years.”

Lankford noted that inflation already has nullified most pay raises some workers received last year.

“Unless you are making at least $3,500 more a year now, you’re actually making less than you were before your raise thanks to inflation,” he said.

On the Border

Toni Pickle, Kingfisher County Republican Women president, asked about current issues with the southern border.

Lankford noted that border wall construction started under the Trump Administration was actually based on the design and location recommended by “career professionals at the Department of Homeland Security.”

“Biden stopped construction last Jan. 20 for political reasons,” Lankford said. “What you won’t hear in the national media is that he’s now quietly started construction again.”

Trump’s remain in Mexico policy, which returned would-be immigrants to Mexico until their legal status was resolved, is also quietly resuming, Lankford said.

He described a recent Biden Administration plan to use the now empty private prison in Hinton to house illegal immigrants who would then be released into the community.

“My office got that stopped,” he said.

“We had the highest number of illegal border crossings last year since we started keeping records – 1.7 million people,” he said. “Numbers are typically low in December and January when people stay home to celebrate the holidays, but they will start to go up again in February.

“It’s not ending and Biden needs to listen to the career professionals who say we need infrastructure, personnel and policies to contain it.”