On Monday Oklahoma U.S. Sen.-elect James Lankford announced four committees he'll join when he moves across the U.S. Capitol from the House to the Senate next month.
Lankford has been appointed to the Senate Committees on Appropriation, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Indian Affairs.
"These key assignments will enable me to promote conservative values within our long-lost appropriations process, encourage efficiency throughout the federal government, and relentlessly demand transparency on behalf of hard-working American taxpayers," Lankford said in a statement. "The U.S. Senate needs to maintain an Oklahoma perspective on national security, intelligence and counter-terrorism strategies, as well as Native American affairs."
The Appropriations Committee is responsible for funding the federal government annually, and is one of the largest and most powerful in Congress. An Oklahoman hasn't served in that body since U.S. Sen. Don Nickles in 1994.
Lankford's predecessor, the retiring Tom Coburn, is currently the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, and former senator and current University of Oklahoma president David Boren was the longest-serving chairman of the Intelligence committee from 1987 to 1993.
Lankford will be sworn into the U.S. Senate on January 6.
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