Lankford Votes to Fund the Troops, Cut $12 Billion in Spending

Congressman James Lankford (R-OK) voted for the troop funding bill today that will fully fund the Department of Defense for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011 and fund the federal government for one week with an additional spending cut of $12 billion. This would bring the total amount of federal spending cuts to $22 billion over the past six weeks.

"Today's vote in the House is first and foremost a crucial step to fully fund our troops for the rest of the fiscal year," said Congressman Lankford. "Our men and women in uniform are putting their lives on the line every day, and they should not have to worry about receiving the resources they need to complete their mission or getting paychecks. Our troops should not be used as a political football and I am proud to support a bill that removes them from the equation on Capitol Hill.

"This plan further advances the Republican pledge to cut wasteful government spending. With combined spending cuts of $22 billion over six weeks, the momentum in Washington is steadily moving toward restoring fiscal responsibility. I strongly urge Leader Reid to fast track this bill through the Senate as this plan is composed of both the size and type of cuts that Democrats previously supported as "reasonable.' A failure to complete passage would show their motivations are purely political and would be an endorsement to cut off funding to our troops and for a government shutdown. This is a responsible bill that should receive broad bipartisan support, and Democrats should remember we are only in this situation because they failed to pass a proper budget last year when they had full control of Congress and the White House. House Republicans completed the markup last night of the Fiscal Year 2012 budget that will be reported to the House floor next week as scheduled."

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