What brings you to town. Actually meeting with a group of senior adults today
and then meeting on some have some meetings on water dealing with obviously Copan Lake
and the direction that we can continue to be able to go to be able
to deal with drought issues in Martlesville. Work a lot with the Core of
Engineers. I've had a lot of meetings with them, and we're doing some
face to face meetings today. Very very good. So the Core sometimes it
can be a little bit of a handful to work with. I understand that
there are a lot of moving parts with that bunch. Yeah, really it
shouldn't be called the Core of Engineers. It should be called the Core of
Attorneys. Really, they seem to do more attorney work than the new engineering
work at times, and they spend years and years and years and studying something
and then years to be able to actually get it done. So my frustration
with the Core is they really have a responsibility that has been given to them
by Congress to be able to oversee some flooding issues mitigation and then also some
of the water handling for the country and our state in particular. That's a
very important task on it, but we've got to be able to make sure
that we're actually allocating the water in a way that needs to be done,
and if we have water availability, we need to make sure that water is
actually getting to people being held back from people. You know, it's been
an interesting year because of the drought, and we got a little bit of
a relief where you know, right kind of right at the edge there where
we're just above conservation. But a lot of people are doing it voluntarily because
they know how fragile this can be with the one hundred degree temperatures and evaporation
and things like that. But it's nice to know that we've got somebody fighting
for us here to make sure that we have ready access to water at all
times, regardless of the way. I haven't actually worked on the water issues
in Bartlesville for a year and a half at this point, working through some
of different issues, So even before we reached a level we were earlier in
this spring, we were already working on it. I've had some of my
team members that they've actually worked on this consistently, if not weakly. Every
other week we're on different meetings or phone calls trying to be able to track
this down work with our representatives and senators there from the states, trying to
be able to work through what we can there. Then obviously lots of meetings
and phone calls with the Core of Engineers. I have another meeting later on
this week with the core even after the meeting that I've got today on it.
And so we are very active on this because this is an issue that
needs to be resolved long term of Bartlesville's economic development. It's growth as a
community will be limited if we can't have a good consistent set of water and
that's actually coming to the community. And so we're going to get this solved
so bartels Will can work on bigger issues. Thank you very much. We
appreciate that greatly. Other things cooking here now that you're back home, but
that doesn't mean that the Senator stops working. As you just outlined, you
were giving really hard work here on getting us, you know, a long
range plan for our water projects. What else is in the bag. It's
always funny, but when my wife hears anyone say, you know, Congress
is off on vacation for a month, you should see her expression on that
one to say, once you travel with us for the month of August and
see it help off. That really is as we travel around the state,
get a chance to be able visit people the one month a year when not
in session it's August, and that really does allow me to put it to
being home in covering the state in our seventy seven counties as much as we
can to be able to visit a folks, find out what the needs to
be able to be in more in depth conversations with people around the state to
be able to determine what can we do, what do we take on.
There's a lot to be able to do with the interfere but August it's been
really helpful for that. Plus there's a lot that's going to be done when
we get back in September as well, so we're going to Tergees to work
on the budget issues, to work on immigration, so there's quite a bit
major legislation is still moving as well as a piece I've worked on for five
years now on prescription FROUDS meetings with Farmercists all last week. I'll have some
others coming up with the chase ahead to be able to talk through what we
can do to be able to get greater access to individuals at a lower price
until able to get to be able to determine how we get the price down
based on reducing some of the man in the process called the pharmacy benefit manager.
You know. Well, one thing that you started talking a little bit
about the drugs and the medications and what have you. Here something that's been
kind of hitting the low burn on the news cycles with some of the national
news services. They want to bring up COVID rearing its head again, saying
that they're concerned about a new variant, and is that anything that folks in
Washington, DC have been hearing about, As far as anything is a big
deal, because I think folks around here I've had enough of it. Well,
I would say CDC has engaged and said there are new variants, but
also anticipated forever there would be new variants, just like there is for the
flue. There's a new variant every bear dealing with the flue as it just
and adapts. So we'll continue to be able to fight COVID the same way
we're finding the flu. Off. We'll determine just what our immunization needs are
in the day said that will be very different than what it is now.
I'll let folks to be able to talk to their doctor about that specifically,
because everyone makes their own decisions every single year, and what they're going to
do on flu people do the same thing, and what they're going to choose
to be able to do on COVID vaccinations. But variants don't surprise me at
this point nor frighten me at this point. That's going to be given.
Whether it's pneumonia or it's a flue, whether it is COVID that's out there,
those will be viruses that will continue to exist for a long time.
Very good on that one. You were talking about border issues and what have
you. That's something you've been watching like a hawk. You've been to the
border several times, and it doesn't appear like anything's improving, although some of
the numbers have been doing funny things, but it still looks like the same
old, same old. I'm gonna tell you that are numbers jump back up
significantly in July. The administrations finally released the July numbers in the middle of
August. The July numbers show a pretty dramatic increase from June. Again,
the heat went up significantly, but the numbers jumped up significantly as well along
the borders. So while the administration is saying, look, we solved all
the problems the border, everyone looked away. The National Wedet did look away.
Many of us did not, and I said many others did as well.
These numbers off right back up again, and they have. What's been
interesting is the administration for the longest said that the reason they are out of
forty two, the numbers were so high, it's because people were repentantly crossing
the border. They would turn them around, they'd come back over and over
and over again. They're saying the RECENTIVIS and numbers are down, but that
would mean the numbers are even higher of individuals that are coming across now than
even they were a year ago. The individuals coming so still major issues.
Two big things that are out there. The administration has got to enforce the
law right now. They're trying to find every way they can not to enforce
the law. They got to enforce it. And Congress has changed the definition
or foot qualifies for asylum. If we don't clarify that, this administration will
continue to use that loose asylum definition to their own advantage to be able to
continue to be able to bring people across the border to the tune of almost
two hundred thousand people that they identified last year our last month, not including
the god obeys they got in the last month. So Congress is going to
be able to fix the asylum law, which I have a proposal for,
and the administration has startingforcing the actual law they can centator link. For one
other thing, it's the economy, and we've been told that, oh,
the economy is in much better shape than we thought it was going to be.
We dodged a bullet, But it seems like now from the economists I've
been hearing from, we didn't nearly dodge the bullet. We just kind of
delayed the bullet. I understand this fall going into Winner could be really kind
of bad for us on the econom Excited things don't approve. It's always hard
to tell. Anyone who tells you that they know what the economy is going
to do in two months. Just know that the front were also selling ground
property somewhere in the middle of the country. So I would just say everyone's
guessing on the economy, but we can all look at the trends and issues
here. We're able to full then inverted yield curve, which is kind of
a dirty way of investors are looking out on the horizon trying to be able
to figure out what's going to happen with treasuries, and there's still a major
concern for the vast majority of investors that are out there looking at the economy.
The other big issue that we've got energy prices continue to accelerate. These
are directly connected to the tax increases that were done in the Inflation Reduction Act
the applet name Inflation Reduction Act of Democratic pass last year to be able to
increase the price of gasoline. Well, that's working. Gasoline prices are now
going up because the taxes have gone up significantly, and it's slowing down as
a number of new capital and investments out there. And also we're feeling it
at the pump now. Our economy runs on housing construction and business construction and
low energy prices. And right now, with high mortgage rates, I think
the highest mortgage rates that we've had in twenty years, housing construction and housing
sales are going down and energy prices are going back up. That's typically not
a good sign for our economy and where things are headed. Ironically enough,
this administration is walking around doing their campaign rallies on the term vitonomics. I
can't find people that are super excited about bytonomics for centurieson prisident Biden thinks that's
the thing. He wasn't campaign on his high mortgage rates, high energy prices.
Most Americans aren't excited about that, but apparently he is amazing. Is
there anything else that we need to cover here in our brief time that we
have together, Senator Now, I tell people who just continue to saying days,
they can reach under our office, and we have a need newsletter we
put out every month just giving some of the attendants of what's happening in d
see some of the major policy conversations. Try to get the facts behind the
scenes as they can sign up for that in my website at Lankford dot Senate
dot gov, Lankford dot Sina dot gov. Then go there and sign up
all the different features that are there. You can also try to bail on
social media at center or Lankford and all the social media platforms, or just
call us or mail at something if they want to be able to do that.
If they still have a stamp in the drawer somewhere, all that information
on Lankforduccina dot gov. We're glad to be able to have this kind of
conversation where have lots of meetings of people all over the state right now,
to be able to engage as much as we camp as to be able to
get input from people and ideas