The next is the transcript of an interview with Sens. Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, and James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sept. 14, 2025.
MAJOR GARRETT: Welcome again to “Face The Nation.” For a have a look at how Congress may- could assist bridge political divisions within the nation presently, we flip to a few lawmakers with plenty of expertise in that house. Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who joins us from Wilmington, Delaware, Republican Senator James Lankford, who joins us from Oklahoma Metropolis. Gents, you might have a well-earned fame, each, for preaching bipartisanship, taking the rhetorical temperature in Washington and nationwide down a notch or two. Senator Coons, I wish to begin with you. After the occasions of this week, do you’re feeling that is more durable than ever to attain?
SEN. CHRIS COONS: It’s. And, Main, thanks, for an opportunity to be on with you and with my buddy, Senator Lankford. The brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk, whereas he was in the midst of a debate on a school campus, goes to the very coronary heart of what it means to be American, of the significance of the First Modification, of free speech, and somebody like Charlie Kirk, who was a nationally identified determine, who devoted himself to debate, to engagement together with his political adversaries, mustn’t have paid together with his life for the chance to talk out. Irrespective of how a lot I’d deeply disagree together with his political beliefs, the concept that he can be killed in such a grotesque and public approach has to convey all of us to replicate about how arduous it is getting, as a result of the web is an accelerant. It’s driving extremism in our nation. It is driving us aside, left and proper, and leaders like Senator Lankford, Governor Cox, have an obligation and a possibility to affix with leaders from my celebration in urging people to put aside any considered political violence and to respect one another, at the same time as we preserve advancing our political variations via discourse.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, do you ever at occasions really feel as in case your appeals for higher angels, calmer rhetoric, extra bipartisanship, is shouting into an web void?
SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: It’s, as a result of the algorithm pushes individuals to essentially the most excessive. The algorithm is all- on social media is all the time pushing who’s the angriest, who’s the loudest, who says the craziest factor, that is what will get repeated over and time and again. So anytime that there’s cogent dialogue or a difficulty on one thing the place individuals could disagree, however they’re having a civil dialog on it, that will get pushed apart, in direction of somebody that is simply offended and targeted. That is considerably human nature, to have the ability to say, we disagree. We discover areas the place we disagree, and we attempt to have the ability to resolve these. One of the simplest ways to have the ability to resolve these is thru phrases, speaking it out, discovering a possibility to have the ability to do it. However I might inform you, this sort of anger is as outdated as Cain and Abel. To have the ability to return and say, I am mad at you, so I’ll attempt to destroy you, whether or not it is destroy you on-line, or to attempt to humiliate you, or to cancel you, or to, on this case, attempt to homicide you publicly. It’s- it’s painful to have the ability to see that a part of humanity, and it’s higher for us to have the ability to push higher angels.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, first you, then Senator Coons. Senator Lankford, are you afraid to your personal safety proper now?
SEN. LANKFORD: I’m- I’m attentive to my very own safety, how about that, for myself and for my household. My workers and I’ve to- have to speak via every public occasion, however we have had to do this for some time. As chances are you’ll know effectively, there have been 14,000 threats in opposition to members of Congress simply this calendar 12 months. This isn’t new, however it continues to have the ability to rise. As we have seen, Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, in their very own residence, have a house invasion, to be murdered of their residence, as we have seen a governor in Pennsylvania have his residence set on hearth. It isn’t simply public occasions, it is also in our non-public areas as effectively, that we’re keenly conscious that there are individuals which might be irrational, that do irrational acts.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Coons?
SEN. COONS: I agree that for all of us who serve in public life, whether or not it is main a nonprofit or a church, instructing in a college, or being a public advocate, somebody engaged in public debate as Charlie Kirk was, the chance is getting larger. And to have to fret concerning the security of your individual household, should you step ahead to function a decide, should you write editorials, should you lead a nonprofit, or should you serve in Congress or run for president, to have to fret not nearly your individual bodily security, however the security of your partner and kids, I believe, weakens our potential to have good and sturdy debates, to have a well-led nation, and to reveal to the world that we’re a nation dedicated to free speech, however the place we reject political violence. So in fact, anybody in public life right this moment is extra involved concerning the tragedy in Utah, concerning the incidents that Senator Lankford simply referenced, the try to kidnap the governor of Michigan, to assault Speaker Pelosi’s husband, the capturing of Steve Scalise and the shootings at different members of Congress. The current incidents have gotten worse and worse and I believe I do know the explanation. It is principally as a result of the web is fueling and accelerating these deep-seated inclinations in direction of violence and seeing others as enemies that James was referencing. And there are steps we are able to and may absorb Congress to deal with that.
MAJOR GARRETT: The administration this weekend, as I am positive you two are each conscious, placing earlier than Congress $58 billion in safety for members of Congress, the judiciary and the like. Senator Coons, you imagine Congress will probably be disposed to conform to that?
SEN. COONS: I hope that we are going to step up and make investments extra. I simply hosted a bipartisan occasion final week on defending state judges, and we had state judicial leaders from throughout the nation, from Delaware and Texas and plenty of different states, speak about harrowing incidents and tragic killings of members of the judiciary. I hope we’ll spend money on securing our public life, as a result of incidents like this tragedy in Utah, just like the homicide of Melissa and her husband Mark Hortman in Minnesota, frankly, gas additional anger in our nation, and the methods wherein people are then taking the horrific pictures of those incidents and propagating them on the web, provides gas to the fireplace. We will and may go payments, as we simply did. Senator Cruz and Senator Klobuchar labored collectively to go, and President Trump signed into regulation, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, to take away among the most dangerous pornographic, revenge porn pictures from the web. And we’ve a invoice proper in entrance of us, the Children On-line Security Act that is broadly bipartisan, that we must always go to assist scale back among the dangers and harms to our households in our nation, from the web.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, I misspoke that is 58 million, not 58 billion, however it’s a considerable sum.
SEN. LANKFORD: Yeah, it’s a substantial sum. What was humorous was I used to be going to truly appropriate you on that, to let you already know it is an ‘M’, not a ‘B’ on that individual one, however it’s one thing to have the ability to put aside and say, what are we doing? It isn’t- it’s concerning the individual and their household, however it’s additionally concerning the title. It is concerning the activity, as a result of that individual represents that state, that- that a part of the nation, that individual activity, my spouse and I usually speak about the truth that I’ve this title of senator for a season. Another person had it earlier than me, another person could have it after me. However whereas I’ve it, I am a steward of that activity and that accountability. And so after we’re speaking about defending judges and defending people, it isn’t simply their private security. It’s actually declaring to the nation that we imagine that these duties are arduous, that there ought to be intense debate, that we’ve very totally different views. Chris Coons and I are very shut pals, however we’ve very totally different concepts on some issues. However we’ve the flexibility to have the ability to characterize our particular person states as a substitute of concepts, and to have the ability to discuss these two issues out, and to have the ability to convey issues collectively and say, I do know areas the place we disagree, the place will we agree? How can we resolve it? That’s the place we’re at our greatest as People is to say we do not oppress one another. We attempt to have the ability to discover our frequent floor and to have the ability to transfer ahead as we are able to and- however as Chris has talked about, the net youngsters security Act is a superb piece of laws to have the ability to shield our children. We’re seeing individuals radicalize on-line, on social media and thru the web in america, by different People and by the algorithm that is there. And I might inform you, as just lately as simply a few weeks in the past, I used to be in a college in Oklahoma that now Oklahoma colleges have banned all cell telephones from bell to bell in school. You can not have a cellular phone on your- on your- on from bell to bell on campus. And the principals and the lecturers all speak about how dramatically totally different the surroundings is on campus proper now as a result of persons are trying up, persons are interacting. Persons are speaking once more. They don’t seem to be simply observing their telephone. They don’t seem to be getting fed all this vitriol all day lengthy. And so it modifications the temper of all the pieces simply by taking a look at one another within the face and saying, let’s examine if we are able to work this out.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, I’ll convey up one thing that is enjoying out via the nation proper now, and it is making all of the belongings you and Senator Coons have talked about harder, which is individuals who have posted about Charlie Kirk have jobs and are being fired as a result of what they’ve posted on-line has been considered by their personnel administrators or leaders as inappropriate. At any governmental stage or within the non-public sector, are you snug having somebody fired for an utterance about Charlie Kirk’s dying?
SEN. LANKFORD: Yeah, that is about defending the person companies. And what persons are seeing is that this cancel tradition that also persists, that should you voice one thing that turns into a giant push again from the group, the employer will step up and say, hey, you are about to kill our enterprise primarily based on what you are saying on-line. Everybody has to grasp what they are saying privately on-line can get related to their enterprise. We’ve a veterinarian clinic in Oklahoma Metropolis proper now that one of many veterinarians posted one thing simply completely horrific about–and now we’re calling out the sick ones proper after Charlie Kirk was murdered that now there’s been huge pushback via that veterinary clinic, as a result of persons are saying, okay, that is the person- do I wish to do enterprise with that individual if they’ve that perception? So that is a part of the problem that we’ve with social media and with employments. Employers are going to say, do not harm our enterprise primarily based on the silly issues that you simply select to say, to have the ability to say on-line.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Coons, how about throughout the federal authorities?
SEN. COONS: Nicely, the best way James put it there, I believe, is an efficient stability between it is okay to have codes of conduct to say to an worker, you should not be talking out on behalf of this firm or this division of the federal authorities, the place your position, for instance, requires that you simply be trusted and that you simply not take partisan political positions. One of many challenges of the intersection of the road between social media and one’s conduct on behalf of the federal government is that right this moment we are able to see into your inside views. However it’s not that new. So, lets say that you are a profession federal prosecutor otherwise you’re a decide. Traditionally, there have been clear guidelines in opposition to partaking in partisan politics whilst you’re performing these capabilities. The web simply makes it simpler for people to police and punish those that make statements which might be thought-about excessive or out of the mainstream. Cancel tradition is an actual problem to us, to balancing free speech with positions of accountability, and we’ve to seek out our approach via this collectively in a approach that provides some grace and humility whereas celebrating the free speech that’s the basis of our republic, and urging individuals to suppose twice earlier than they put up issues which might be outrageous on-line.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, the nation goes to look to Congress right here within the subsequent couple of weeks to avert a authorities shutdown. Additionally presumably lengthen quickly to run out Reasonably priced Care Act subsidies that assist individuals afford insurance coverage. On this local weather and with these eyes of the nation upon Congress, how do you count on that to play out?
SEN. LANKFORD: I count on us to have the ability to resolve the price range points, which the American individuals count on to give you the chance to- to do as effectively. These are arduous points. We’re despatched to have the ability to do arduous issues. We must always do arduous issues on it. We must always not, at first, have a authorities shutdown. We’ve $37 trillion in debt proper now. We must always have arduous conversations about debt and deficit, however they should not be throughout a authorities shutdown. What we’re at present arguing proper now about is a seven-week extension on the present price range spending, to say we’re not altering something, however for the subsequent seven weeks, let’s simply maintain it till we get an extended price range settlement and might really come to settlement. What has been floated is a $300 billion requirement, by a few of my Democratic colleagues, to say, if we do not spend a further $300 billion, we’re not going to maintain the federal government open the subsequent seven weeks. That is additionally a subsidy, an insurance coverage subsidy, that was put in place throughout COVID and simply after COVID, to say, because of the well being care points round COVID, we’ll lengthen extra insurance coverage protection that is there. COVID and the disaster of COVID has now handed on it, it is tough to say we must always spend a further $300 billion simply to remain open the subsequent seven weeks as a consequence of a COVID emergency at this level. So sure, we’ll have- we’ll have arduous conversations, however let’s have it. Let’s- let’s discuss it out. Let’s determine it out.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Coons, you are going to get the final phrase. Reply to Senator Lankford on that.
SEN. COONS: Nicely, that is an space the place Senator Lankford and I disagree. We’re each appropriators. We each wish to discover a method to work collectively to maintain the federal government open, however the Republican-only invoice that was handed earlier this 12 months, the so-called Massive Stunning Invoice, threatens to boost charges for well being look after hundreds of thousands of People and to throw hundreds of thousands extra off of well being care. I believe there are methods we are able to scale back the hurt to People’ healthcare via the appropriations course of. The invoice that we each voted for in our committee in July would restore most of the proposed deep cuts to the Nationwide Institutes of Well being for instance, one optimistic step ahead. We’ve to discover a method to resolve these points and scale back or reverse among the hurt that is being accomplished to People’ well being care.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat. Senator James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican. Thanks each. I respect it. And we’ll be proper again.
