When U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin travels the country, people commonly ask him about the perceived constant discord in Congress.

To Mullin, it’s the nature of the beast. 

“Government was never designed for us to get along,” he said. “Our founding fathers did not set up Washington D.C. for a group of people to all get along and make decisions together. If they wanted us to all get along, we would just have one person in charge. 

“…We are trying our best to work together. Congress is still working. We’re still doing things. It is just more exposed than it’s ever been. The dysfunction is more exposed than it’s ever been.”

Mullin delivered his remarks Wednesday at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s first Congressional Forum of the year before a crowd of more than 250 at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel & Convention Center.

Congressional Forums provide opportunities for the northeast Oklahoma business community to hear directly from members of the state’s federal delegation

Wednesday, Mullin touched on such topics as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s successor, federal spending and a possible committee promotion for fellow Oklahoma delegation member Tom Cole. He also fielded prepared questions from the audience and members of the Chamber’s government affairs team. 

Regarding spending, the senator said 70% of federal government is “actually on autopilot,” commonly known as mandatory spending. 

The balance is discretionary spending, he said. 

“We will never be able to balance the budget off 30 percent of the budget,” Mullin said. “But that’s what we do in the federal government, and that’s what we fight about. It’s ridiculous to think that we’re going to be able to balance the budget the way we operate. 

“However, with Indian health services, with our federal obligation to our tribes, based on treaties that we signed with them…it’s a federal obligation to fund these programs. So, when this funding is up for discretionary spending, it’s actually laughable.” 

Mullin was asked about who might succeed McConnell, who will step down as Senate Republican leader in November after a record run in the job. 

Sen. John Thune from South Dakota and Sen. John Cornyn from Texas are the top candidates, Mullin said. 

“I really do believe it’s John Thune’s to lose,” he said. “I think John is seen as the most viable candidate. 

“When Mitch McConnell went down for a little bit for health reasons, John really stepped up and did a good job. And he was really quick to step back out of the light when Mitch came back. Some people have a hard time giving that up. John is very good about delegating things, too.” 

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma recently announced that he would be seeking the position of chairman of the House Appropriations committee, one of the most powerful jobs in Congress. 

Cole being selected to that post would be “huge,” Mullin said. 

“I just want to make everybody understand how important that is for a small state like Oklahoma to have a chair of appropriations,” he said. “It is massive. 

“We get overlooked all the time by larger states like Texas. We get overlooked by them because they just have more representatives than we have...But when you start talking about the House, the way you get around having a small delegation is having a person in a place of importance. That’s what Tom Cole has done.”