CONGRESSMAN LUCAS SHARES KEY INSIGHTS DURING DC SPOTLIGHT DISCUSSION
As the longest-serving member of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, Congressman Frank Lucas recently reflected on his 18 years in Washington during a fireside-style chat at the Chamber's annual DC Spotlight event in southwest Oklahoma City. Since being elected in 1994, Lucas has served under seven Speakers of the House, including the most recent appointee, Mike Johnson. Even with the Republican Party currently holding just a three-seat majority in the House and a new Speaker taking the gavel, Lucas said he was “cautiously optimistic.”
conservative, but he’s discovering now that it’s one thing to be a group leadership member sitting toward the back of the room and vote in kind of a super-principled way and then suddenly becoming the chief executive officer and have to move the agenda.” Lucas said when he was first elected 40% of his constituents lived in parts of South, Downtown and Northeast Oklahoma City. Now, the Third Congressional District covers all or a portion of 32 counties in northern and western Oklahoma, including the extreme southwest corner of Oklahoma County. Since most counties in Lucas’s district are rural, Lucas emphasized the importance of organizations like the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber partnering with communities across rural Oklahoma to help make positive impacts. “Whether it’s a business on Main Street in Cheyenne or a business in any one of the communities within metropolitan Oklahoma City, it’s still business. It’s the tax code; it’s the depreciation schedule; and it’s the labor issues. It’s all those things that matter, no matter where you are.” “So, when the Chamber helps me on the farm bill or you help me with the delegation on things related to energy, or you help us on things related to the tax code or deprecation, that’s just a variety of things. Helping us helps you because it’s that direct symbiotic relationship.”
“I serve with a handful of idealistic, principled folks who would rather be right than pragmatic, which complicates issues a little bit more,” Lucas said. “Speaker Johnson is probably the most articulate Speaker that we’ve had in a very long time. And that’s a good thing for us. (He is) very socially, politically and economically
“Whether it’s a business on Main Street in Cheyenne or a business in any one of the communities within metropolitan Oklahoma City, it’s still business.” - Congressman Frank Lucas
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