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Republican (1854-present)

James Lankford

Before his service in Congress, James served students and families for more than 20 years in ministry, including 15 years as the Director of Student Ministry for the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma and Director of the Falls Creek Youth Camp, the largest youth camp in the United States, with more than 51,000 individuals attending each summer.

James and his staff enjoy serving people from all backgrounds across Oklahoma. As Ranking Member of the Government Operations and Border Management  Subcommittee, which covers border security, management, and operations; regulatory reform; and the federal workforce. He demands we have a secure, more fiscally responsible, and transparent federal government, and our nation remains the world leader. He believes that the federal government has an important role in our nation, but empowered families, individual people, and private businesses grow our economy and pass down our values.

First Step Act to Address Federal Criminal Justice Reform

  • On December 18th, the Senate passed the First Step Act in a vote of 87-12. The House passed the bill on December 20th in a vote of 358-36. The bill now goes to the President for him to sign into law.
  • The bill provides modest reforms to our federal criminal justice system to help make our prisons safer and our prisoners more equipped to leave crime behind when they leave prison.
  • The bill includes important human rights provisions like prohibiting the use of restraints on pregnant prisoners (with safety exceptions) and limiting the use of solitary confinement of juveniles. That particular provision is modeled on the bipartisan MERCY Act, which Senator Lankford sponsored along with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ).
  • Despite some misinformation being circulated, the First Step Act’s recidivism reduction programdoes not shorten sentences, even for those with good behavior. In fact, earned time that could be used at the end of a sentence to transition to lower-security facilities is unavailable to inmates who present a medium or high risk to recidivate.
  • The bill also classifies numerous heinous crimes as ineligible from using earned time credits for this purpose. For example, those ineligible include traffickers of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine.
  • The First Step Act restores congressional intent regarding “good time” credits, which are current law and allow a prisoner who has displayed exemplary compliance with prison discipline rules and who has also made satisfactory progress toward an educational degree to earn 54 days per year toward reducing his or her sentence.
  • Senator Lankford offered an amendment, which passed by voice vote, to the First Step Act to allow faith-based groups to provide job training, social and family development to our prison population the same as non-faith-based groups. The amendment ensures that faith-based communities can engage with prison communities but prevents federal funds from being used for overtly “religious” activities.
  • To read a summary of the First Step Act, pleaseCLICK HERE.
  • To learn more about the First Step Act and why I supported it when it passed the Senate, pleaseCLICK HERE.