Following a recent editorial in the Countywide & Sun, Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, called in for an exclusive telephone interview. The editorial is available at countywidenews.com, and is titled “Go For It, Senator!” What follows is a summary of the conversation in Monday’s interview:
I’d like to start off talking about our recent editorial, which quoted you, about the fragility of medical supply chains that run through China. What policy measures would you propose to help re-establish those supply chains domestically, or at least route them through a friendlier foreign power?
Lankford said we need to develop a detailed supply chain map, to take into account every step in the manufacturing process.
“It’s not just where a product comes from, but where the product that goes into that product, that goes into that product, that goes into that product comes from,” Lankford said. “I’ll explain what I mean. You can’t just say for instance, a computer comes from China. You have to know all of the pieces that go into that computer, that comes from China, and where those parts come from, and if their supply chain is intact.”
He said by breaking down the supply chain maps, we can determine where the components of all necessary medical supplies are coming from, and which of those components need to be re-routed.
“The second step on that is working with the companies who actually do the purchasing, to see if they’re willing to transition that purchasing to other places,” Lankford said. “Many companies have already started examining that, knowing that it’s a great vulnerability.”
Lankford offered 3M, one company responsible for the manufacturing of N-95 respirators, as an example of the dangers of over-reliance on China. He said when COVID-19 started breaking out across China, the communist government blocked the export of PPE, because they needed to use it all in China.
“So an American company producing in China could not ship to the United States, which put our PPE orders behind for months coming in, and created a real dilemma for us in the earliest days of this crisis,” Lankford said. “So a lot of companies have seen that and then realized if you do manufacturing in China, it is a communist government, and at any moment that communist government could just declare ‘you’re going to use all those materials here and not somewhere else,’ and you’re at their mercy.”
So, to what extent has the domestic damage caused by COVID-19 been caused by that dependence on foreign suppliers for PPE, and ventilators, and other medical supplies, and what can be done in the short-term to fix that issue?
“Obviously the short-term has already occurred,” Lankford said. “That is, a lot of companies that produce other things are now producing PPE, and they’re trying to be able to offset that supply, because so many people are buying so much. That will slow down eventually, because companies will say ‘Hey this is not going to last forever, so I can’t be dependent on producing PPE and people buying it right away.’ So people are looking for contracts.”
He said one of the key ways to combat that problem is the build-up and maintenance of a well-stocked federal stockpile. Additionally, he said the national stockpile should be supplied and maintained with domestically produced PPE.
“That gives those suppliers some confidence that ‘If I’m going to keep producing this, there will be a buyer’,” Lankford said.
Lankford said encouraging competition in this way would help keep the prices for necessary equipment low.
“So that’s the key aspect now, is making sure that there is a consistent buyer,” Lankford said.
Since we scheduled this interview, President Trump issued a series of executive orders to push unemployment assistance out to Americans, and enact a sort of payroll tax cut, among other things. I’d like to give you the opportunity to comment on both what the effects of those orders will be, and whether they constitute an erosion of Congress’ power of the purse.
“So I’m still looking through all the different funding mechanisms on that. My initial response is that they don’t,” Lankford said.
He said the CARES Act passed in March put in place several funds that gave the administration wide latitude to target areas of greatest need. Unemployment was determined to be one of those areas, he said, and therefore those funds were being directed towards that problem.
Lankford said Democrats in the House and Senate needed to come to the table with reasonable requests in order to address other areas of need. Specifically, Lankford said he took issue with Democrats’ desire for more direct funding to the states.
“What’s really happening is, a lot of states are struggling with their pension funds, with other expenses, with bond payments, with other things they’ve done and been setting up for years,” Lankford said. “And they see this crisis as a moment to be able to get a bailout that’s not related to COVID-19.”
He said the legislature and the White House will continue negotiations for an additional relief package.
“But in the mean time, something needed to be done,” Lankford said.
Governor Kevin Stitt recently said in a press conference that Oklahoma didn’t need more federal aid to deal with the challenges caused by the novel coronavirus. Is that a fair assessment of the situation in Oklahoma, and does his stance on the issue impact what you might hope to see in a relief package, or what you’d be willing to vote for?
“The state of Oklahoma received $1.5 billion in the CARES Act in March. $1.5 billion is an enormous number for us in Oklahoma, and we’ve only spent, I think about 30% of that,” Lankford said.
He said there is an interesting dynamic at play, revolving around the best way to get the money out to the entities that need it.
“Everyone has needs, there’s no question on that. The needs are in the billions, no question on that,” Lankford said. “But $1.5 billion to be able to go across the state is a really big number to be able to take care of the COVID-19 needs.”
Lankford said that a lot of smaller communities in Oklahoma saw an increase in sales tax revenue in May, due to an increase in online and local shopping. He said people were staying closer to home, rather than driving into bigger towns in order to shop.
“I don’t know of someone, or some agency that doesn’t say ‘We want more money.'” Lankford said.
There is a difference between needing more funds to take care of COVID-19 related issues, and wanting funds to handle other budget shortfalls, he said.
“This was supposed to be about helping out with coronavirus, rather than just ‘There were other issues in other places, that we’d love to have just some free money to be able to take care of,'” Lankford said.
Cimarron Correctional Facility, owned by CoreCivic, recently terminated its contract with the state for budgetary reasons. This presents logistical issues in the transfer of those inmates to new facilities, incurring both fiscal costs, and the risk of spreading COVID-19. What measures could, or should be taken at the federal level to stabilize the prison industry, and prevent such closures in the future?
Lankford said his office was surprised, like many entities around the state, to find out the facility would be closing. He said the day that he learned of the closure, his office began engaging with federal entities, to see if any would be interested in contracting with CoreCivic.
“We’ve stayed in that conversation, and we’ll continue to be able to partner up different agencies with CoreCivic, to say ‘Hey there’s a good facility here,'” Lankford said. “There’s workers that are already trained and ready to go, that want to be able to go back to work, so we’ll see if we can’t actually find another use for that facility.”
As you mentioned, the facility may end up being used to house federal inmates, or inmates from other state or local governments. Is there a reason for Oklahomans to be concerned about the potential for inmates from out of state to be transferred and housed in Oklahoma, and if so, what could be done at the federal level to mitigate those concerns?
“What it does is it actually increases the number of folks in hotels and restaurants, and things around it because family members are driving in longer distances, and having to stay over night to be able to come visit individuals that are housed in the prison,” Lankford said.
He said Oklahoma had several other facilities that already house out-of-state prisoners, and it’s not an area of major concern.
We’ve seen from the 2018 midterms, and recent primary elections, that Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas are becoming more blue, and in some places becoming more liberal. What impact do you see this shift having on the 2020 elections, as well as elections moving forward?
“That will be much easier to be able to tell by mid-November than it will be mid-August, to be able to see exactly what that is,” Lankford said.
He said it can be tough to read early on what effect the shift will have on statewide elections.
“I think people still respond to individual candidates,” Lankford said. “There is a type of group-think that happens in urban areas, where you’ve got a lot of people that are all together, and they’re tightly packed, so they tend to get into group-think mentality.”
He said he’s confident that people will still respond to candidates as individuals, and their policies.
Do you think this shift makes necessary any changes in the statewide campaign strategy, both for this year, and moving forward?
“At the end of the day, every candidate, and every elected official, has to remember they represent everybody in that district, not just the people that vote for them,” Lankford said. “They represent everyone in that district, and they’ve got to be able to hear people out, and to be able to pay attention to taking care of the constituent needs of every individual that’s there.”
He said it’s important to listen to every constituent, while maintaining your core values as an individual.
“I’m a conservative, and I have a conservative set of beliefs, and that does not change for me,” Lankford said. “But I can still have respect, and listen to people that have a very different perspective, and to see if there’s some area of common ground there. Sometimes we can find common ground, and sometimes we can not, but I still have the responsibility to serve everyone.”
