Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, is expected to be speaking about the same time today on the Senate floor, C-SPAN 2, regarding Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

The stockade at Fort Sill has been mentioned as a possible holding place for Gitmo prisoners. However, the correctional facility was ordered to be shut down by the 2005 base closure commission; the operations were to be consolidated at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. That hasn’t happened yet, and a Fort Sill spokesperson said last month there was no timetable for shutting down the Fort Sill facility.

During a press briefing last week, President Barack Obama was asked about the possibility of Gitmo prisoners moving to Fort Leavenworth:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. You named a special envoy today to oversee the closure of Guantanamo. I’d like to ask you about that. Among the places being — possibly being considered as an alternative to those prisons is Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. There’s a wall of opposition –

THE PRESIDENT: Where my mother was born, by the way.

Q Exactly. There’s a wall of opposition to that — local officials, people in the area and plus from the congressional delegations of those states. How would you explain the rationale between the possibility — if a place like Leavenworth would be chosen, the rationale behind that, and reassuring people of their safety and security?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, keep in mind we haven’t made any decisions on this. But also recognize that these individuals who have been imprisoned, many of whom are very violent or who have been detained, many of whom are violent and are pledging violence against the United States, once captured are similar to criminals who have engaged in violence of other types. They are a serious risk, but so are many of the people who are currently in prison. And we would not — we would never put people into a situation that elevated the risks for surrounding communities. And that will obviously be something that we take very seriously as we’re making these decisions moving forward.

But we already have experience with terrorists who are in federal prisons. And there’s been no indication that the safety and security of prison guards or the surrounding communities have been compromised as a consequence. That doesn’t mean that it’s not a serious issue. I recognize why people are concerned. We haven’t made any firm decisions on this yet. But I have every confidence that we can determine the ultimate fates of those in Guantanamo in a way that’s consistent with our values, consistent with our ideals, and that keeps us safe and secure.

Moreover, the delegation is relatively young in terms of its seniority.

Neither of those two factors bodes well for its clout in Congress. But Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, says the state’s clout moved up dramatically in the last couple of months, from near the bottom to closer to the middle of the pack.

Fallin is the co-chair of the Women in the Military Task Force in the House.

She said, “No one doubts the great contributions that women have made to our Armed Forces. Our nation owes these servicewomen a great debt. For those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, that debt is even greater and can never be repaid. Today’s ceremony served as a tribute to the enormous heroism, courage and patriotism displayed by all servicewomen and female veterans.”

Three weeks ago, video experts Dave Morris, David Jones and Scott Horton from The Oklahoman came to Washington to install a video set here in our offices and teach us how to use it.

Ed Kelley, Editor of The Oklahoman and a smooth pro on his regular videos on newsok.com, came along to assure us that we too could speak coherently with a camera trained on us. That will be for you to judge.

So far, Mark Green has done several commentaries. I did an interview last week with Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, part of which has been posted on The Oklahoman’s web site; more segments of that interview will be posted later.

We have other interviews planned in the coming days. Hope you can tune in.