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Senator James Lankford (R-OK) is making sure Oklahomans shouldn’t have to face month-long delays because of the State Department’s 3-million passport backlog.

He first learned there was a huge backlog at the Passport Agency on May 28, 2020, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lankford said, "Our office helps makes sure Oklahomans can get their passports in a timely manner, particularly in an emergency travel need or if someone has paid for expedited service—they told me the Passport Agency was very, very behind and not responsive to our requests."

After he then sent a letter to Secretary Pompeo, Passport Services were made “Mission Critical,” which helped ease some of the backlog and got them back on track for a while. But when the Biden Administration took over, the Passport Agency started to lag again, worse than in 2020, primarily due to State Department staff not operating at 100-percent capacity and the failure to fully reopen passport offices to the public.

Lankford  sent another letter demanding action and then followed up again earlier this year when they’re newly launched online application tool failed abysmally in the middle of an existing backlog.

Lankford sais, "This has to stop!"

The Senator is introducing a bill to establish a 12-week processing time requirement and accountability mechanisms when the Department of State falls short.

The bill requires:
A full investigation into the delays of the last four years
Procedures to avoid processing backlogs in the case of future national emergencies
Expanded in-person appointments at regional passport offices
A reserve workforce that can be reassigned to support Passport Services during high demand.
An improved online status tool to provide more information to applicants
 

Senator Lankford is also making sure NATO countries contribute their fair share because peace through strength works when America’s allies do their part.

Ahead of the NATO summit this week, he urged President Biden to call on NATO countries to meet defense spending commitments.

Lanksford said, "The failure of many of our allies—including some of NATO’s largest members—to meet commitments of two percent of GDP on defense has the potential to undermine American support for the alliance, severely limits Europe’s ability to contribute to our shared interest in defending against Russia, and is a source of long-term instability in Europe, not to mention frustration for American taxpayers." Lankford added,"The lack of sufficient progress is politically and economically unsustainable."

Lankford said that American citizens rightly question why our government disproportionately bears the burden—decade after decade—for Europe’s defense.