James Lankford Quotes

Shutting down the government is not how you make government work.

In Wisconsin, I led the Assembly to a balanced budget in face of fierce opposition from the status quo.

I don't want a government shutdown. I don't think anyone does.

I do hope that next year Republicans and Democrats will do nothing.

I'm tired of divided government. It doesn't work very well.

I don't think it's wise to shut down the government.

I am very glad that Paul Ryan left the government as a capitulating supplicant to Donald Trump while the government was shut down, while the debt hit record levels, right? Every single thing Paul Ryan claimed to care about.

We have a paralysis in Washington that's not serving our country. We have to address these issues.

While I have worked hard to bring folks to the middle to craft common-sense solutions to the many problems that confront our nation, Washington is mired in gridlock, gamesmanship and constant partisan bickering.

Congress is unable to do the work of the American people because too many politicians believe that compromise means capitulation.

There's a void of leadership in a lot of Washington. I think one of the reasons why there's so much angst across the country.

The American people do not care which Party solves the problems confronting our nation.

We've gotten to the point now where Republicans and Democrats have nothing in common besides being members of the 'caustic caucus,' and we can't get anything done.

While we face economic obstacles that challenge every decision made in Washington, decisions made merely for political gain must stop. It's time to restore civility in Congress. It's time for action where action is needed - all politics aside.

I think that what is truly unfortunate is when an entire party makes a decision that they're going to block every single thing that a president wants to accomplish. It's very - it's very hard to get anything done in those circumstances.

Everywhere I go - from Main Street to Wall Street - people ask, 'What's happened to our political system? Why can't Washington folks work together?'

There are a lot of politicians who are just obstructionists.

We shouldn't deny the right of the minority to filibuster, but we need to do a much better job of making them own it. That way, the American people could figure out who is being obstructionist and who is willing to compromise.

Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the House right now seems to have been strangled by the tea party.

I think what both Republicans and Democrats need to do and the leaders on both sides is to recognize that if sequester takes place, it would be disastrous for our national defense and very frankly for a lot of very important domestic programs. They have a responsibility to come together, find the money necessary to de-trigger sequester.

The Senate needs 60 votes to pass anything. They have to compromise with liberal Democrats to spend more money. Even though arguably we have control of the Senate, we really don't.

People will pay a price for putting political obstruction over progress in a time that is so critical and urgent.

My viewpoint is the Senate is dysfunctional.

Democrats can neither control nor predict whether our GOP counterparts are really ready to play chicken with the U.S. economy. But we can assure the American people that our party takes the nation's faith and credit seriously.

You watch television and see what's going on on this debt ceiling issue. And what I consider to be a total lack of leadership from the President and nothing's going to get fixed until the President himself steps up and wrangles both parties in Congress.