Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole was the featured speaker at last week’s Heart of Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Goldsby Town Hall.
Among the things he brought to the attention of those in attendance are the three most important issues facing the Congress today.
Number one was funding the government to avert a government shut down.
“We can do it by continuing resolution but that wouldn’t be the best way to handle it because you can’t change requisitions from last year,” he said.
Cole used Abrams Tanks as an example.
Say you ordered 100 new Abrams last year.
You could only order 100 this year even if you only needed 50 due to the continuing resolution.
He said the best way was to come right out and fund the government.
Cole reported his district is probably in the top 10 districts across the country with respect to the number of Federal Employees if you consider, Tinker Air Force Base, Fort Sill, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center that trains air traffic controllers and the National Weather Service.
He estimates there are 22,000 federal employees in his district, all of whom would go without pay if the government shuts down.
That deadline is fast approaching the April 19 showdown.
Cole said number two is the dangerous time in which we are living with Ukraine and Russia at war and China inching closer to invading Taiwan.
“Democrats are 100 percent in favor of continuing funding for Ukraine while Republicans are split,” the congressman said.
And third is national security with Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) leading the charge.
He also touched on the border crisis saying it is a “disaster” with fentynal coming into the country at alarming rates, human trafficking and the crimes like the one in Georgia from illegals coming into the country.
Cole said there are 70-80 thousand deaths related to fentynal every year in this country.
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