{"id":4612,"date":"2012-02-14T13:07:35","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T19:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=4612"},"modified":"2012-12-20T10:07:01","modified_gmt":"2012-12-20T16:07:01","slug":"four-ways-obamas-budget-impacts-oklahomas-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/02\/14\/four-ways-obamas-budget-impacts-oklahomas-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Ways Obama’s Budget Impacts Oklahoma’s Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EWEL SAMAD \/ AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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President Barack Obama\u2019s $3.8 trillion budget<\/a>, which calls for tax hikes on the affluent and spending to boost economic growth, has set the stage for an election-year showdown with Republicans.<\/p>

It\u2019s a political exercise, and Congress \u2014 in typical fashion \u2014 will likely ignore much of the president\u2019s proposal. But the president\u2019s budget reflects his policy priorities, which have renewed prescience in an election-year.<\/p>

Obama\u2019s budget would impact Oklahoma\u2019s economy in four big ways.<\/p>\n

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MARK RALSTON \/ AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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1. Aerospace<\/h4>

Obama requested no future funding for an aircraft modernization contract, which employs Boeing engineers transferring to Oklahoma City, The Oklahoman<\/em>‘s Chris Casteel reports<\/a>. The contract will receive $208 million this fiscal year.<\/p>\n

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h7536n \/ Flickr<\/p>\n

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2. Agriculture<\/h4>

Obama wants to cut subsidies for the agriculture industry by about $32 billion over the next decade. The plan includes eliminating $5 billion a year in direct payments to farmers, which Reuters reports are distributed \u201cregardless of need.\u201d<\/p>

Oklahoma farmers \u2014 mostly wheat farmers \u2014 receive about $81 million a year in direct subsides, according to The Oklahoman<\/em>.<\/p>

Obama has proposed similar cuts in every annual budget for the last several years, as did his predecessor, George W. Bush, the Associated Press reports<\/a>. Congress has blocked such moves, but the \u201cmood has shifted\u201d in D.C., according to the AP.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026even farm-state lawmakers say that direct payments should be cut.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

Obama\u2019s budget also cuts crop insurance, which has drawn the ire of Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee.<\/p>

From The Oklahoman<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Obama’s proposal to cut crop insurance threatens the integrity of the program itself. And, he ignores other areas for savings such as streamlining or eliminating duplicative programs in conservation, or closing loopholes in nutrition spending,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Megabeth \/ Flickr<\/p>\n

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3. Energy<\/h4>

Obama\u2019s plan would repeal tax breaks popular with independent oil and natural gas producers, which include a domestic manufacturing credit and deductions for certain drilling expenses. Eliminating such credits would save about $40 billion through 2021, according to Obama\u2019s budget request.<\/p>

Not surprisingly, the energy industry criticizes such efforts, while clean-energy proponents said the moves would help make solar power and electric vehicles more competitive.<\/p>

The impact isn\u2019t clear, writes<\/a> the Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u2019s Keith Johnson. The effect, he writes, might depend on the size of the oil and gas company:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Executives at big oil companies, including Exxon, have said that the tax benefits aren’t decisive in investment decisions, especially when oil prices are around $100 a barrel. But for some smaller oil and gas producers, some of the tax benefits play a larger role, because those producers have less capital in a capital-intensive industry.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

<\/em>Rep. John Sullivan, R-Tulsa, criticized Obama\u2019s plan, which he said doesn\u2019t parallel statements the president made in the State of the Union Address.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Obama called for increased production of domestic oil and gas \u2014 and now he presents a budget that makes his own goal impossible to achieve by targeting domestic oil and gas producers with punitive tax increases,\u201d Sullivan told The Oklahoman<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Staff Sgt Lakisha A. Croley \/ U.S. Air Force<\/p>\n

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4. Military<\/h4>

Obama\u2019s budget calls for Congress to approve two new Base Realignment and Closure \u2014 or BRAC \u2014 rounds.<\/p>

Oklahoma has five military installations<\/a> and has never had a base shuttered from a BRAC round. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, told<\/a> the Enid News & Eagle<\/em> he opposes the president\u2019s plan:<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, should we lose that fight, I am ready to stand with our communities to highlight Oklahoma\u2019s strengths that have benefited all our military installations in past BRAC rounds,\u201d he told the paper.<\/p><\/blockquote>

<\/em>In FY 2010, there were more than 69,000 military, federal civilian and contractors employed at installations in Oklahoma, Department of Commerce data show.<\/p>

Some good news for Oklahoma\u2019s military: Federal civilian workers would get a 0.5 percent raise, while Obama\u2019s budget would give active-duty military personnel a 1.7 percent raise.<\/p>

The good times might not last, reports<\/a> Army Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Parity with the private sector would continue in 2014. However, in 2015, the Pentagon plan would have military pay raises dip slightly below private-sector wage growth for the first time since the late 1990s.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Barack Obama\u2019s $3.8 trillion budget, which calls for tax hikes on the affluent and spending to boost economic growth, has set the stage for an election-year showdown with Republicans.It\u2019s a political exercise, and Congress \u2014 in typical fashion \u2014 will likely ignore much of the president\u2019s proposal. But the president\u2019s budget reflects his policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":4616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[492,301,16,300],"tags":[313,311,312,315,314,316,197,195,229,239],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4612"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4632,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions\/4632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}