Oklahoma's U.S. Senators, Republicans Jim Inhofe and James Lankford, blamed Democrats as the most recent coronavirus relief proposal failed to reach enough votes to survive a filibuster.
"Disappointed, but not surprised Senate Democrats blocked our targeted COVID-19 relief bill," Lankford said in a statement. "Only in Washington, D.C., would a $300 billion dollar piece of legislation be considered 'skinny', not even mentioning the $3 trillion we've already spent. We shouldn't continue spending money just because we can, we have to focus on what's needed."
"I’m disappointed but sadly not surprised to see Senate Democrats choose politics over the American people today as they blocked the efforts of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Republicans to deliver hundreds of billions of dollars of COVID-19 relief," Inhofe said in a statement.
On the Senate floor Wednesday, Lankford said his constituents don't support spending for the sake of spending.
"What I heard all over Oklahoma wasn't 'Go do more, just go spend more, go create new programs,' but, 'How can we beat this virus back?'" Lankford said.
In a video posted to his Facebook page Wednesday evening, Lankford said the GOP proposal was appropriately sized.
"Quite frankly, just throwing more money out the door doesn't solve the issues, and creates a different set of issues for us," Lankford said, citing the national debt and deficit.
The GOP's roughly half-billion dollar package was a pared down version of a previously introduced Republican proposal from July that would have cost roughly $1 trillion. That package, the HEALS Act, did not have unanimous Republican support due to its high cost.
Democrats favor a package closer in size to the House-approved, $3.5 trillion HEROES Act, citing unmet need for many Americans still struggling through the pandemic.
One sticking point in the failed negotiations has been how much money should go to out-of-work Americans, with Thursday's failed GOP proposal targeting $300 per week and the stalled HEROES Act providing $600 per week. Last month, the Tulsa World reported Lankford as saying that a group of pastors advised him it's bad policy for Oklahomans in poverty to receive long term benefits.
Thursday's vote was split 53-47 nearly on party lines, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voting against, and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), the Democratic nominee for vice president, not present.
