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The Journal Record - Journal Record Staff
Ripples from the federal government shutdown continued to spread across Oklahoma this week, with effects ranging from canceled airplane sales to home loan approval delays to court stays.
It’s not surprising or uncommon when people disagree. We see differing points of view in every aspect of our lives, but one of the great things about being American is the fact that we’re all entitled to have an opinion and state it loudly if we choose. From birth onward, every individual finds the belief system that makes the most sense and through that, values are shaped and opinions defined. So we learn to expect disagreement as part of life, and in so doing, we also realize the necessity of discussion, negotiation and compromise. That’s how we get along.
Norman Transcript - Congressman Tom Cole
As I explained in numerous town hall meetings back in August, government shutdown is harmful to hard-working Americans, and using it as a strategy to repeal Obamacare is sure to fail, especially when its namesake is in the White House.
To be clear, I oppose Obamacare. I voted against it and, since passage, I have voted 41 times to either repeal it fully or partially. Seven of these bills have actually become law, modifying the Affordable Care Act and saving taxpayers $62 billion.
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 3223, the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act. This legislation would ensure that federal workers receive lost pay for the duration of the government shutdown, regardless of furlough status.
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) joined with House colleagues to urge Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Rand Beers and OMB Director Sylvia Burwell to properly enforce the Pay Our Military Act. This letter was sent after hundreds of thousands of Department of Defense, U.S. Coast Guard civilians and members of the National Guard were furloughed.
Just four months ago, Oklahomans proved their resilience by living through back-to-back tornadoes that claimed lives, destroyed entire neighborhoods and shook communities. While our state has come to expect the threat of tornadoes each year, it doesn’t make it any easier when it happens. Fortunately, with the support of friends across our state and nation, we have persevered and lost no time in picking up the pieces and rebuilding our communities.
The Oklahoman - Chris Casteel
Congress missed its deadline early Tuesday to resolve partisan disputes over Obamacare and struggled into the early morning hours for a way out of a morass that forced the first government shutdown since 1996.
House Republicans were set to vote after midnight on a proposal calling for a small group of House and Senate negotiators to tackle the problem. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Senate Democrats would not agree to negotiate “with a gun to our head.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and Congressman Tom Cole (R-OK-4) today congratulated University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Langston University for being awarded a grant of approximately $2.5 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s University Transportation Centers (UTC) program.
Associated Press - Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Republicans pulling on the budget thread can't neatly unravel President Barack Obama's health care law.
A partial government shutdown next week would leave the major parts of the law in place and rolling along, according to former Democratic and Republican budget officials, as well as the Obama administration itself. Health care markets for the uninsured would open as scheduled on Tuesday.