Congressman Steve Russell (R-OK) issued the following statement regarding President’s announcement of the accepted nuclear agreement with Iran: “Now that the President has a deal with Iran, Congress is faced with the most important decision we have had to make in decades. On the table before America, is a limited scope agreement with Iran that the President believes would potentially keep them from developing a nuclear weapon or arsenal. Now is not the time to review what could have or should h...
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Rep. Steve Russell, after touring the military prison at Guantanamo Bay over the weekend, praised the operation of the facility and acknowledged the complexity of dealing with the remaining detainees. “There’s a lot of legal problems back and forth, but the president has to get involved with how these things are adjudicated,’’ said Russell, R-Oklahoma City. “People say, 'Just close it all down.' But they have to go somewhere.” What members of Congress don’t want is for the detainees to go to pri...
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U.S. Rep. Steve Russell has inserted language into the National Defense Authorization Act that would award the Purple Heart to six service members who were killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. The two soldiers, two airmen and two Marines were working as recruiters in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. "" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border: 0px currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align: bottom; box-sizing: border-box;"> "" fr...
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The Army's plan to cut 40,000 troops over the next two years, in addition to 80,000 already cut, will leave the United States unable to meet international commitments or even adequately defend the country, Oklahoma Rep. Steve Russell tells Newsmax TV. "It's the lowest point that we have seen in raw numbers since prior to World War II," Russell told "Newsmax Prime" on Thursday. "Percentagewise, it's just staggering and astounding that we would cut trained soldiers that it takes years to bring bac...
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Congressman Steve Russell has been selected to join the House-Senate conference committee for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) FY 2016. Congressman Steve Russell offered this statement, “I am proud to join the conference to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA. It is very important that we get this right, for the sake of the readiness of our military both at home and abroad. We have an opportunity to affect acquisition reform, as well as pay fo...
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The Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Katherine Archuleta, has announced that she will resign effective Friday, July 10, 2015. This decision comes after news that the cyber breach that had occurred at OPM compromised personal information for as many as 25 million Americans, and amid many calls to resign from the members of the House Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) Committee. Congressman Steve Russell (R-OK), an OGR member said, “It is the right thing for Katherine Arch...
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Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-CA|33) and Congressman Steve Russell (R-OK|5) issued statements in response to the news that the personal information of 25 million Americans was stolen in the recent hack of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). As members of the Oversight & Government Reform Committee, Congressmen Lieu and Russell have participated in two full committee hearings on the OPM breach. Lieu and Russell have also both personally filled out and previously submitted SF-86 forms. ...
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Today, as part of my work as a Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, former Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso was referred to the U.S. Attorney General for criminal prosecution. This criminal referral follows hearings in June 2014 and March 2015 where in his sworn testimony, Mr. Moure-Eraso may have implicated federal statutes that prohibit lying under oath and making false statements to Congress. “I applaud the work done by the Oversight and Gover...
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Freshman Rep. Steve Russell put a program of the U.S. Army, his former employer, at the top of his new list of wasteful federal spending. In the Waste Watch report released Tuesday, Russell cites much-criticized Army purchases of Russian helicopters for the governments of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Army has sunk nearly $2 billion into the program, despite reports of mismanagement and fraud and a lack of trained personnel to fly the helicopters. According to the report, the Army paid $17...
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Congressman Steve Russell (R-OK), a member of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, released the following statement concerning plans by the United States Army to cut 40,000 troops over the next two years: “I am really concerned for our military acquisition and readiness when it comes to our men and women overseas. I am confident that our forces will be able to succeed in whatever they are tasked to do, but with fewer troops, and resources for their missions, they will be forced to pl...
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