On Sunday I spoke at the sixth annual Oklahoma Aerospace Breakfast during the Farnborough International Airshow, which was sponsored by many of our chambers in the state. It was a great honor to see many of the aerospace projects supported by Oklahomans on display at this international event. Oklahoma is of the world’s fastest growing aerospace clusters over the past seven years, because Oklahoma has a culture that promotes and attracts business and people. Over 120,000 people in Oklahoma work in the 500 plus aerospace and defense companies based in Oklahoma. We are partners in each other’s future.

http://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-promotes-oklahoma-at-farnborough-air-show-2016

Today the Obama administration announced that it has ended Pentagon restrictions on transgender individuals serving in the military. Our military is facing historic readiness shortfalls, putting our service members’ lives at greater risk. Addressing this crisis should be the sole focus of Obama administration, but instead they continue to be more interested in forcing their social agenda through the DOD. In the coming days, I will be asking Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain and Ranking Member Jack Reed to hold hearings on this matter. I believe this policy should be put on hold until the DOD thoroughly answers questions from Congress on how such change will impact the readiness of our military. http://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-on-change-to-dod-transgender-policy

60 years ago today, President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act into law. This congress, my top priority was passing a long-term highway bill to support the roads and bridges that serve as the backbone for our economy and we did just that. The FAST Act is the longest highway bill since 1997, providing the certainty the states need to make fiscally responsibility plans to fix bridges and launch economy-boasting modernization projects. It also includes new freight programs aimed at enhancing the movement of goods across the country. If past reauthorizations, and the broad bipartisan support each has received, have shown us anything, it’s that Congress continues to recognize our constitutional duty to provide for the nation's roads and to support interstate commerce.

This afternoon, I met with Laney Kate from Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She is visiting Washington, D.C. for @CMNHospitals Champion Luncheon. She truly is a champion. When Laney Kate was born she was immediately put on a respirator and placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life-saving treatment for infants and children suffering from cardiorespiratory failure, in the NICU at The Children’s Hospital Foundation at Saint Francis in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Today, she is an energetic and healthy eight year old. Read more of her story here: https://www.saintfrancis.com/childrensfoundation/Pages/Patient%20Stories/Laney-Daniels.aspx

#OTD in history, the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Each time I have been sworn in for a new term in Congress, I pledge to support and defend the Constitution. It’s the conviction that guides in how I vote to represent Oklahoma and in how I work on legislation. This includes efforts I’ve worked on this Congress to support our military and national defense, to maintain and modernize our highways so as to support interstate commerce, and to roll back big government regulations that impede on states’ rights. I keep free pocket constitutions in my offices. Next time you come by for a visit, please be sure to take one home with you.

Oklahomans using ObamaCare for healthcare coverage could see their premiums rise by 50 percent next year. This news hit last week right as Oklahomans also learned there will likely only be one insurer option in the state under ObamaCare, down from four in ObamaCare's 2014 inaugural year. So much for the president's promise that if you liked your plan, you can keep it? We need to repeal and replace ObamaCare with common-sense, marketplace solutions. Under a Republican-led Congress, we've dismantled many aspects of this disastrous law, actions that have prevented massive tax hikes and protected small businesses and innovation. Because Democrats wrote this law to largely be funded as mandatory, entitlement spending, it will take putting a Republican in the White House for us to fully repeal ObamaCare and it's my goal to make this happen.

Today I voted to advance the national defense bill in Congress because it provides critical funding for our national security, focuses on increasing combat readiness, institutes efficiency and cost-saving reforms and supports our service members and their families. Thanks to strong, bipartisan support for my Senate amendment, this bill now also protects the access and cost-savings our military members and their families receive from the commissary benefit. As the defense bill goes to conference, where it will be merged with the House-passed defense bill, I will be working to remove unnecessary Senate-language requiring women to register for the draft and to tighten restrictions to prevent President Obama from bringing terrorists detained in Gitmo to American soil. Read more about this bill here: http://1.usa.gov/1XUVOSh

Thank you to the 30+ Senators who are supporting my amendment to the NDAA to protect military and veterans’ access and savings at our military commissaries. I am working hard to get a vote on this amendment this week while the Senate debates and considers the defense bill. If you use a commissary, please let me and your Senators know what it means to you. Thanks to my colleagues supporting amendment #4204 Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Barbara Boxer (D-Cali.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), David Vitter (R-La.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

Over the weekend I visited the military commissary on Altus Air Force Base to talk with families and employees to hear how they would be impacted if efforts in Congress succeed to privatize this benefit. I intend to put a stop to a provision in the NDAA to begin privatization. I believe there are too many unknowns about how privatization would affect military members’ ability to provide for their families as well as the potential for it to affect retention. Included in last year’s NDAA was an amendment that I authored that would first require an study on the benefits and costs of privatization before such action can take place. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the assessment and follow on Comptroller General review has not yet been completed, this year’s NDAA includes language that would privatize up to five commissaries on major military bases. I intend to file an amendment to address the commissary provisions when the NDAA is considered on the Senate floor as early as next week. http://altustimes.com/top-stories/4307/privatization-impact-sought

I applaud the Supreme Court for protecting religious liberty and religious non-profits like the Little Sisters of the Poor from the Obama administration’s attacks on the right of conscience in their unanimous decision to send Zubik v. Burwell and related cases back to the lower courts to examine an alternative accommodation to the mandate. The Sisters, and others who were involved in this case, selflessly serve the most vulnerable in our society because of their religious convictions. It was ill-advised policy to punish them for their conscience by forcing these non-profits to choose between providing abortion-inducing drugs or potentially closing their doors due to debilitating big government fines. http://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-praises-scotus-decision-on-zubik-v-burwell-