Securing a Permanent ICE Office for Tulsa

I am pleased to announce that, after several years of coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, I secured a permanent ICE office for Eastern Oklahoma. The Tulsa based office will be home a permanent Fugitive Operations Detention and Removal Unit, and could be fully operational by the end of October 2008.

This is a major victory for the rule of law and public safety across the First District. We will now have a permanent Fugitive Operation Detention and Removal Team on the ground in Tulsa that will focus on locating, arresting and removing fugitive and criminal illegal aliens, such as transnational street gang members, child sex offenders and aliens with prior convictions for violent crimes, from our community. These violent offenders are now put on notice that their days of harming our community and evading the law have come to an end.

Since elected to office in 2002, I worked diligently to bring more interior immigration enforcement resources to Eastern Oklahoma and provide law enforcement officials with the tools they need to keep us safe. Protecting our community from criminal illegal aliens is one of my top priorities in Congress. I can’t go anywhere in the First District without constituents asking me about the status of the ICE office. Today I am happy to notify them that their permanent ICE office is on the way.

Strengthening Oklahoma’s Health Care Safety Net

On October 1, 2008 Oklahoma hospitals and other safety net providers could lose critical funding that helps them to provide quality health care to all Oklahomans. With this in mind, I recently sent a bipartisan letter to House Leadership and Appropriators urging them to extend the 16 percent annual funding increases to Medicaid’s Low Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) states before Congress adjourns for the elections this week. It is critical that Congress acts to continue this percentage so that our hospitals and healthcare providers do not feel the financial strain of providing health care services to the indigent, uninsured and underserved. Without this funding in place, hospitals in Oklahoma and twenty other states will be forced to cover increased uncompensated care costs, potentially limiting access to quality health care.

Medicaid DSH payments are funds that are distributed to all 50 states and are used to reimburse hospitals that have a high percentage of patients that are low income, on Medicaid or uninsured. 20 states, including Oklahoma, are not fully reimbursed for the uncompensated care they provide. In fact, some states currently do not use their entire DSH allotment and that money is sent back to the treasury, not used as they were originally intended for healthcare. This is why in April of this year, I introduced H.R. 5721, the Strengthening the Safety Net Act of 2008. My legislation will ensure that Oklahoma hospitals and other safety net providers are on equal footing with other states that already receive their fair share of Medicaid DSH payments, and are able to continue providing quality care to all Oklahomans while ensuring that the government is effectively and responsibly using taxpayer’s money when it comes to health care programs. With Oklahoma having the fourth highest rate of uninsured in the nation, it is critical that Oklahoma hospitals receive a fair distribution of Medicaid DSH funds in order to care for the indigent population.

If you wish to contact Congressman Sullivan regarding a specific issue, please visit our contact web page at http://sullivan.house.gov/Contact.