Congressman Steve Russell (OK-5) offered the following statement to reflect upon the 15th anniversary of September 11, 2001: “Every American alive had their life changed forever 15 years ago. For me, before the year was out, I deployed on Operation Enduring Freedom. September 11th is seared in our memories just as Pearl Harbor was nearly 75 years ago. As we reflect on the civilians, first-responders and warriors lost, let us never lose sight of why they sacrificed. Let us use the time we have t...
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Del City, OK - Congressman Steve Russell (OK-5) is inviting veterans to come to his Del City office between 9 am and 5 pm on Thursday August 11 and Friday August 12 to share their stories for The Veterans History Project. The Veterans History Project was started in 2000 by the United States Congress to save firsthand accounts of America’s wartime veterans. Along with the Library of Congress, Congressman Russell is seeking to preserve these stories and legacies for generations to come. Veterans w...
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Thursday morning, Congressman Steve Russell (OK-5) met again with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), Robert A. McDonald, to discuss the VA’s progress in increasing access to health care for veterans, as well as other notable highlights in the past year. “Despite the mountain of work that still needs to be done, I was quite encouraged about the improvements being made at the VA after our meeting,” offered Russell. “I am pleased to see some of the needed accountability m...
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Early Thursday morning, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) completed its mark-up of H.R. 4909 - the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Congressman Steve Russell (OK-5) offered 11 amendments to the legislation, which were all adopted. These amendments ranged from preventing further cuts to our military, to providing retired service members a more equitable distribution of retirement benefits upon dissolution of marriage, to making sure religious service providers and contrac...
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Del City, OK – Today, Congressman Russell joined with Starbucks and the Starbucks Armed Forces Network to go “Behind the Bar” at the Starbucks located at 3301 Northwest Expressway, Oklahoma City. Congressman Russell spent his morning meeting with the employees and patrons to highlight the veterans and the spouses of veterans Starbucks hires, as well as the members of the Armed Forces who stopped in for their morning cup of coffee or beverage. Congressman Russell made time to speak with every pat...
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Beginning at 39:00 in to the podcast, Congressman Russel joins Scott Mitchell to talk about harkening back to a time of political civility, ways to see education reform, and innovation in Oklahoma.
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U.S. Reps. Steve Russell (OK-05) and Markwayne Mullin (OK-02) introduced a bill on Thursday that will give Oklahoma’s military installations the flexibility they need to hire more workers. The bill, the Department of Defense Workforce Flexibility Act of 2016 (H.R. 4687), allows temporary employees within the U.S. Department of Defense to more easily apply for vacant, permanent positions within the department. Russell, a retired Army officer, said H.R. 4687 will make defense hiring more efficient...
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Congressman Steve Russell (OK-5) and Congressman Ryan Zinke (MT-R) co-sponsored the Mandating American’s Responsibility to Limit Abuse Act (the MARTLAND Act), introduced by Congressman Duncan Hunter (CA-R). This bill establishes a unified policy that human rights violations, including child or sexual abuse, will not be conducted or condoned by the United States military on any military installation, whether it is in the United States or abroad. The MARTLAND Act stems from an ongoing case the Arm...
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Congressman Steve Russell (OK-5) issued the following statement regarding President Obama’s plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay: “The President’s plan to close Guantanamo’s detention facility and allow terrorists that have murdered American citizens to be afforded increased rights on American soil is wrong on so many levels: It is wrong for 9/11 victims and their families; it is wrong for our fallen warriors and their families; it violates federal law; and it is wrong to dismi...
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