Randy Krehbiel
Tulsa World Staff Writer
Bad company: The arrest last week of eight immigrants from Tajikistan suspected of ties to the Islamic State prompted U.S. Sen. James Lankford to ask more questions of the Biden administration — and to gently remind his Republican colleagues that the bill he helped negotiate and they shot down would likely have kept the eight out of the country.
“Last year, we had 70,000 people that fell into the category of Special Interest Aliens,” Lankford said. “This year so far, we’ve had 53,000 people that were Special Interest Aliens. These eight individuals that were arrested yesterday were part of that group of Special Interest Aliens — illegally present here, not vetted on our southern border, but released on their own recognizance.”
Lankford’s bill would have required that all immigrants seeking asylum be detained and screened and that they be turned away once the average daily arrivals reached a certain level.
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The Biden administration is trying to limit asylum releases through executive order, but Republicans say that would be insufficient.
“The Administration has put in place a new executive order to try to lower somewhat the number of people that are coming across, but the way they’re doing it is by turning around people from the Western Hemisphere,” Lankford said. “Folks from other areas, like Tajikistan, those folks are still coming through. Some are being detained, but a large number are actually being released on their own recognizance as Special Interest Aliens. We don’t have information on direct ties to terrorism at the time they’re at the border, so they’re being released.
“The bill that I brought to this body would have changed the way we did screening dramatically, would have taken all these issues about terrorism from the end of the process and moved it to the beginning so that we’re not releasing people and then trying to figure out if we can chase them. Right now, what’s really happening day to day is that individuals crossing our border, we’re hoping that the FBI can pick up any information on them after they’re already released into the country.”
Trump card: Facing a well-heeled primary challenger backed by the insurgency wing of the Republican Party, Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole is playing up the fact that he is the one former President Donald Trump has endorsed.
On Thursday, after Trump spoke to the House Republican Conference, Cole issued a statement suggesting a close relationship should the former president become the future president in November.
“(Trump) spoke about securing our border, reigning in out-of-control government spending, lowering crime, ensuring America is energy independent, and being a fearless leader on the world stage,” said Cole. “As chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, I look forward to working directly with President Trump to push these strong, commonsense solutions and curb the catastrophes of the Biden Administration.”
Other means: With Democrats forcing Republicans to take weekly votes on in vitro fertilization, Lankford and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi introduced legislation encouraging “restorative reproduction medicine.”
The idea is to find ways besides IVF for low-fertility individuals and couples to conceive.
“IVF is an incredible scientific advancement that allows families to bring life into the world, but IVF is very expensive and shouldn’t be the only option available to families,” said Lankford.
His bill, Lankford said, “prioritizes addressing underlying causes of infertility to help families to bring the miracle of life into the world.”
U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin co-sponsored the bill.
School days: Cole’s bill mandating an investigation of the history of Indian boarding schools made it out of committee.
“Indian boarding schools have had devastating impacts on Native communities,” said Cole, a Chickasaw citizen. “Yet, for so many years, the true stories about what happened to these Native children are unknown.”
Cole, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives longer than any Native American, said “it is a priority of mine to properly represent our Indian communities in Congress. Therefore, I am committed to investigating the tragic abuses that occurred at these boarding schools and bringing light to this dark chapter in our nation’s history.”
FERC folks: Mullin and Lankford voted for a Republican nominee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, against one Democrat and split on another.
FERC regulates interstate electric transmission and generation, including hydroelectric dams such as those scattered across northeastern Oklahoma.
Mullin (for) and Lankford (against) disagreed on confirmation of Democrat David Rosner, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Mullin has been trying to get FERC to reconsider a decision that could cause the Grand River Dam Authority to buy an additional 13,000 acres of flowage easement.
Dots ‘n dashes: First District Congressman Kevin Hern told a group: “Our red states love God. And our blues? I’m not sure what they love.” … Mullin and Lankford joined other Senate Republicans condemning the process that led to former President Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts in a New York state court. … Mullin told Fox Business that Trump tax policies and less business regulation are the key to controlling inflation. … Among amendments making their way into the National Defense Authorization Act passed last week by the House was 2nd District Congressman Josh Brecheen’s outlawing drag shows on military bases. … Hern, meanwhile, particularly approved of an amendment barring the military from paying travel expenses of service members traveling for an abortion. … Cole said Trump’s idea of eliminating income taxes on tips has “considerable merit.”
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