James Lankford: “we are getting ready to turn the page into 2026, which is hard to process in some ways because so much has happened in…”

“we are getting ready to turn the page into 2026, which is hard to process in some ways because so much has happened in 2025. I have a habit when I approach the end of the year to look back and also take a quick look forward where things might be going. But just thinking about this year, we have had more votes in this body this year than any Senate since 1976. We have been in session more days than any Senate in the past 50 years. We actually confirmed more nominations in the first year of a new Presidency than any Senate in decades and decades. It has been a lot of work that has happened in this Chamber this year. Just reflecting back on that, I see what still needs to be done, but I think there is some benefit just for us to be able to pause for a moment and think about what has already occurred in this incredibly busy year. We talk a lot about the Working Families Tax Cut Act that we passed this past summer. The regulations are being written out by the IRS and multiple others to be implemented for this coming tax season. But there are so many things that actually went into that, and the debate around it was so noisy, I think people lose track of the things that are actually in it. I talked to some teachers in Oklahoma who have no idea that next year, when they buy school supplies, they will be able to write off a deduction for the school supplies that they purchase because of the Working Families Tax Cut Act.”