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.
After visiting the Arizona border in March 2021 and after months of holding the Biden Administration accountable for its failures to enforce the law and preserve national security at the southern border, Lankford announced that the Department of Homeland Security would finish several gaps in the border wall located in San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, and Del Rio. This announcement comes after Lankford released a report that exposed billions in waste to pay contractors to babysit the border wall materials at these sites while the Biden Administration “studied” it, even though Congress already allocated the money to build the wall.