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US Senator James Lankford called in to Bartlesville Radio on Thursday for our monthly podcast.

 

This week, Lankford introduced his charitable giving bill, the Charitable Act. His bill gives Oklahomans who want to donate to their favorite charity or nonprofit the ability to deduct more from their taxes.

 

"Our families, churches, charities, and nonprofits are the first safety nets to take care of people. The government is the last safety net, so switching dollars from taxes to donations makes sense," said Senator Lankford. He added, "The bill extends a below-the-line deduction for charitable giving on federal income taxes valued at up to one-third of the standard deduction (around $4,500 for an individual filer and around $9,000 for married joint filers). The bill is supported by numerous nonprofits including YMCA, United Way, Goodwill Industries, and the American Heart Association. The bill is also supported by the Charitable Giving Coalition, which has 175 member organizations, and the National Council of Nonprofits, which has 25,000 member organizations."

 

This week, Lankford joined Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) to introduce the Stop CRT Act According to Lankford, the Stop CRT Act would prevent federal funding from going to schools that teach Critical Race Theory.

 

Lankford believes Oklahoma is making sure our schools are not pushing political ideologies like CRT on our kids at school. Rather than political ideology, Lankford believes schools in Oklahoma and across our nation need to be able to focus on giving kids a quality education to get them ready for the workforce so our nation remains competitive internationally.

 

This week, the Senate voted on a resolution to block the Biden Administration’s Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (known as ESG) investment push.

 

Lankford said, "Yesterday, I voted for a resolution of disapproval that would prevent President Biden from implementing a rule that would politicize Americans’ retirement investments in favor of Biden’s Green New Deal, also known as Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing."

 

Lankford believes anyone can invest their own money in whatever way they choose with any ESG or other personal priorities they desire, but the Administration should not pressure retirement investors to put hard-working Americans’ money into funds with lower returns and higher fees, simply because they follow the President’s liberal agenda.