Oklahoma lawmakers react to president’s budget plan

TULSA — Tuesday, Oklahoma lawmakers reacted to a $4.1 trillion budget proposal with a note of cautious optimism.

Rep. Tom Cole made it clear the plan won’t make it through Congress unscathed.

“There’s quite a bit of the president’s budget that simply aren’t (sic) going to be supported by any Democrats at all,” he said. “It’s good to have his sense of priorities, but we also have to be realistic about what we can fashion and pass.”

He went on to say “our final product will be better because we had the president’s input, but it certainly won’t mirror the president’s proposals.”

Senator James Lankford also noted that the president’s plan is only the beginning of the process.

“The White House’s proposed FY2018 budget is the start of a long conversation on how to best fund the federal government for the next year,” he said in an email sent to KRMG. “I am glad to see that the Trump Administration is trying to address the nation’s long-term budget crisis with a budget proposal that balances in 10 years.”

Critics, however, say the projections of a balanced budget in ten years rely on a lot of wishful thinking - including a growth in the economy at a rate of 3% a year, something that hasn’t happened in more than a decade.

Lankford has also made it clear that the budgeting process itself is flawed, in his opinion.

Since it was last reformed in 1974, he wrote, it has only worked four times.

“Let’s put an end to the days of continuing resolutions and massive omnibus funding bills,” Lankford said. “It’s time to fix the issue that has been before us for 43 years. I ask Congress to bring responsibility and predictability back to the system and let’s make the needed reforms so that it actually works for the American people.”