Lankford Statement on House Passage of Repeal of Military COLA Changes

Statement

Washington, DC--Representative James Lankford (R-OK) released the following statement after the House passed a repeal of the recent changes to military cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs):

"I have worked tirelessly to repeal the change to military COLAs in the bipartisan Ryan-Murray Budget Agreement since the vote last December. Before Ryan-Murray was even signed into law, I introduced H.R. 3787 to reverse the military retirement changes and keep the deficit reductions. I promised the veterans of Oklahoma in December that I would work to correct the changes to their retirement benefits, and today I fulfilled that promise. The reduction of our veterans' benefits should never have been an issue in the first place," said Lankford.

"For the past two months, I have worked diligently to convince my colleagues that reversing these cuts, while making common-sense spending reductions, was essential. The House used part of my bill to rectify the issue with military COLAs and still achieved the savings that we desperately need to fight for at every opportunity.

"I was proud to continue to support Oklahoma's military families with my vote in favor of this bill today, and I look forward to continuing to also chip away at our deficit and national debt at every responsible opportunity," concluded Lankford.

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