Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma believes the ongoing U.S. government shutdown will end before Thanksgiving, despite continuing political deadlock.
During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Kristen Welker asked whether the government would reopen in time for the holiday.
“Oh yes,” Lankford replied.
When pressed, he doubled down: “I do, and it absolutely needs to — and needs to be open today, if we can get it open. So we put out a proposal literally 14 times to say, ‘Let’s open it today, let’s keep negotiating.’”
The shutdown, now lasting over a month, stems from disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over healthcare reforms introduced during Trump’s second term.
Congress Seeks Deal Amid Growing Pressure
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said lawmakers will stay in session until a funding agreement is reached.
Meanwhile, President Trump has continued to publicly pressure Democrats to end the stalemate, accusing them of political obstruction.
On his Truth Social account, Trump claimed, “The Democrats are cracking like dogs on the Shutdown because they are deathly afraid that I am making progress with the Republicans on TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER!”
He urged his party to eliminate the Senate filibuster, calling it an obstacle to policy advancement.
“Whether we make a Deal or not, THE REPUBLICANS MUST ‘BLOW UP’ THE FILIBUSTER, AND APPROVE HUNDREDS OF LONG SOUGHT, BUT NEVER GOTTEN, POLICY WINS LIKE, AS JUST A SMALL EXAMPLE, VOTER ID,” Trump wrote.
Lankford and other lawmakers have stressed the need to reopen government operations before Thanksgiving to mitigate the impact on federal workers and national services.
