Federal Fumbles Volume 5: Ways the Government Dropped the Ball

Federal Fumbles Volume 5: Ways the Government Dropped the Ball
US Senator James Lankford

Thank you for taking the time to read through Volume 5 of Federal Fumbles. This year I want to focus on something specific: Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, which grants Congress the power of the purse. It is Congress’s duty—my duty—to set spending caps and ultimately appropriate those dollars to fund our federal government. This is a more than $1 trillion annual task that I do not take lightly. It should be done wisely and on time.

As you may recall from Volume 4 of Federal Fumbles, I have been engaged with a bipartisan working group to offer real and practical solutions to fix our budget process—one that has worked only four times since 1974.

Part of reforming our budget process also involves how and when Congress actually funds the government. To that end my primary focus has been on my bipartisan solution to end government shutdowns once and for all. This solution is headed toward the end zone, and you can learn more on page 7.

This volume of Federal Fumbles does not stop with our broken budget process. In fact, that is just the
beginning. In the pages ahead, you’ll read some shocking information about the money different agencies spend on researching various aspects of Russian life (including their sea lions), a $445.9 million annual Fumble at our southern border, and billions of dollars wasted in so-called tax extenders. What do you think of that Tesla next to you at the stoplight? Glad you like it since you helped purchase it.

You’ll also learn how commonsense proposals to fund our inland ports and public lands are actually
complicated ploys that take massive advantage of your tax dollars—to the tune of billions of dollars each
year.

I will continue to press for other government reform solutions, including the Taxpayers Right-to-Know
Act and the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency (GREAT) Act. These two bills will
offer unprecedented transparency into the way your tax dollars are actually spent.

We need to maintain a spotlight on federal spending no matter what’s making headlines in Washington.
Regardless of the political noise of the day, we cannot forget about the $23 trillion national debt. I continue to fight against that debt each and every day, and I will continue to work through practical solutions for the sake of our country and future generations.