Republican senator attacked by Oklahoma GOP after he's seen agreeing with Biden
Fewer than three seconds of the State of the Union Address by President Joe Biden is getting a Republican senator in trouble.
KWTV reported Monday that Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the key architect of the conservative border policy that could have passed the House and Senate, appeared to agree with Biden about details in the plan.
During the speech, Biden said, "That bipartisan deal would hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers, 100 more immigration judges to help tackle a backload of 2 million cases, 4,300 more asylum officers and new policies so they can resolve cases in 6 months instead of 6 years."
Biden also said there would be, "100 more high-tech drug detection machines to significantly increase the ability to screen and stop vehicles from smuggling fentanyl into America. This bill would save lives and bring order to the border. It would also give me as President new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming.
"The Border Patrol Union endorsed the bill. The Chamber of Commerce endorsed the bill. I believe that given the opportunity, a majority of the House and Senate would endorse it as well."
The crowd of Republicans booed the bill — while Lankford was seen on camera agreeing and mouthing "It's true."
The Oklahoma County Republican Party voted to censure Lankford for the move after the address, the report explained. It's the second time in a year that Oklahoma Republicans have censured their senior senator.
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"The State Party attempted to censure Lankford in January over the bipartisan border deal, but former President Donald Trump's opposition ultimately torpedoed it," said the report.
In fact, the state GOP said at the time that a rogue vice chair made the move of the party and the state Republicans did not actually sanction it.
Speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN Sunday, Lankford tried to pivot to explain that he only agreed with the fact that the bill would have added more judges and asylum officers to navigate the backlog of migrants.
"I was listening to the president, and obviously, as he was walking through, I could hear my colleagues around me saying none of that is true. I was actually listening to the president and thinking, no, that part is actually true," Lankford said.
"It [the border bill] would have hired all of those additional agents, would have expedited the [asylum] process [to deport illegal border crossers], and would have also changed the asylum standard."