Even though the Super Bowl is over, Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.) is keeping the spotlight on fumbles, in his newest initiative “Federal Fumbles.”
In his latest ESPN-themed report, Lankford offered a bleak outlook in the game between taxpayers and Washington, D.C. “Even though the Super Bowl is behind us, it’s still Federal Fumbles season in Washington,” he told the Washington Reporter.
“Just like football,” Lankford added, “we have seen too many occasions where the federal government has dropped the ball, but this year’s report does not just call out the mistakes, it celebrates the touchdowns we have scored. From the Charitable Act becoming law to leveling the tax playing field for energy producers, making full expensing permanent, modernizing how the VA serves veterans, and giving law enforcement the tools to stop drones smuggling contraband, these are not just critiques, they are wins for taxpayers.”
Lankford laid out in the report where the government has to do better. His first example is a “$53 million turnover,” in which “the Biden-Harris National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported spending $53 million on research using human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions.”
Another miss cost taxpayers over $100,000, and it saw those funds go directly to Communist China. “Despite growing concerns about US dependence on China for critical drug development and biomedical research, NIH paid a Chinese laboratory $124,000 to conduct drug experiments on up to 300 beagles per week,” Lankford said. “The project outsourced drug testing to a facility operating with virtually no US oversight, raising serious national security and animal welfare concerns.”
The Lankford report also detailed a series of “touchdowns” that he and his Senate GOP colleagues scored for taxpayers. Among them are the One Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB), which Lankford described as a “landmark law that lowers costs for families and cuts burdensome red tape.” The senator outlined how the landmark legislation is covered with his fingerprints.
“One of the most impactful provisions is my bipartisan Charitable Act,” he said in his report. “The Charitable Act permanently restores and expands deductions for charitable giving for those who do not itemize on their tax returns. Starting after January 1, 2026, taxpayers who do not itemize can deduct up to $1,000 in cash charitable contributions ($2,000 for married couples filing jointly). Since about 90 percent of Americans do not itemize, this change gives millions of taxpayers a meaningful incentive to support charities, houses of worship, and nonprofits that depend on small-dollar donations. This is a major win for taxpayers and for communities served by America’s charitable organizations.”
Another Lankford win in the OBBB was his Promoting Domestic Energy Production Act, which fixes the “unfair treatment” that the Biden administration levied via the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
“Unlike other capital-intensive industries, oil and gas companies cannot deduct their normal business costs like every other business,” Lankford said, which is why he wanted the fix in the OBBB.
A final Lankford touchdown in the OBBB was his ALIGN Act, which “makes full and immediate expensing permanent.” That “has been a key part of the tax code for more than 20 years, helping US businesses remain globally competitive…By enabling 100-percent first- year depreciation, businesses can reinvest faster, hire sooner, and expand more quickly. Full expensing strengthens investment across sectors like rural broadband, agriculture, energy, and manufacturing, supporting local job creation and boosting America’s economic competitiveness without increasing our national debt.”
Another win was in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), whose Record Management Center was “still using CDs to send veterans their medical records.”
“When I learned of this issue, it was clear that change was needed — not only to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on outdated technology but also to ensure veterans can easily access their records,” Lankford noted. “After months of calls and continued conversations, we were able to bring some basic common sense to the VA’s process. The VA will no longer rely on unusable CDs and will now move toward modern, accessible methods of delivering medical records.”
Lankford, who serves as the Senate GOP’s vice chairman, also handed out a series of MVP awards to his colleagues, the Supreme Court, and to others in the Trump administration.
The most consequential of which was most likely the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, which “marked a major shift in administrative law by overturning the long-standing Chevron deference,” he said. “With that precedent now gone, courts, not executive agencies, will determine the meaning of unclear or open-ended laws. This change finally corrects the balance of power between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. It reinforces the judiciary’s role in interpreting statutes while placing greater responsibility onCongress to write clear, precise legislation. Moving forward, it is critical for Congress to avoid ambiguous language and clearly focus on defining intent when lawmaking. I have created four main categories of terms that lawmakers must avoid when drafting legislation in the future.”
Another Lankford MVP award went to the leaders of his UPDATE Act, which will help reverse the “delay of game” the Biden administration oversaw on America’s permitting process.
“The Clean Water Act’s Section 401 requires any project that may result in a discharge into waters of the United States to obtain a water quality certification before construction can begin,” he noted. “A proposed solution to this issue is my UPDATE Act. This bill would eliminate Section 401 entirely and restore federal authority over permitting. Under this approach, the federal government would rely on existing processes to evaluate and issue permits in a uniform, predictable manner, preventing states from unilaterally obstructing interstate energy projects.”
Another MVP from Lankford went to the bipartisan group of senators who want to “lock the clock” and finally “end” Daylight Saving Time.
“For many years, including 2025, I have teamed up with a group of bipartisan Senators to introduce the Sunshine Protection Act,” Lankford wrote. This bill would ‘Lock the Clock’ in Daylight Saving Time, producing more hours of sunlight in the evening hours after work and school. That means more time away from screens for your kids, more time for a round of golf, and more time outside throwing the ball with your dog. We all hate time change — so let’s end it.”
