Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator stumped for his border package Wednesday before a vote that defeated the deal after top Republicans and former President Donald Trump decried it, even after demanded concessions were included.
"I understand we have differences, but we have to sit down together and figure out how we’re going to solve problems. The American people sent us here to do that,” Lankford said in a speech to his colleagues in Washington, D.C.
Working across the aisle, Lankford co-authored a legislative package that would have transformed the U.S. immigration system. PBS reports the deal would have tightened asylum regulations, allowed for partial border shutdowns, and opened some new pathways to legal citizenship. It also provided aid for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, told NPR Tuesday that Lankford deserves recognition.
“When he and I began working on this package, we were aligned on our goals on what to get done to actually secure the border. There’s not another Republican in the Senate who's as knowledgeable or forthright or as honest a broker as Senator Lankford, at least on the border,” said Sinema.
Current presidential candidate Donald Trump disavowed Lankford’s efforts. In an interview with conservative political commentator Dan Bongino, Trump said Oklahomans will be displeased with Lankford.
“I don’t know how a Republican senator could put something like this forth. I don't know how he could do it,” Trump said.
Trump told Bongino that he didn’t endorse Lankford, despite publicly doing so in 2022.
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt took to social platform X to rebut Trump. Holt wrote, “Senator Lankford put his energy into improving a situation that concerns many Americans. This is exactly what he is supposed to do. It is what Oklahomans elected him to do.”
