Oklahoma officials wary of budget cuts

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Oklahoma officials said Friday they are wary of how $50 billion in federal budget cuts approved by the U.S. House will affect low-income Oklahomans. <br/><br/>Oklahoma's four Republican

Saturday, November 19th 2005, 11:32 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Oklahoma officials said Friday they are wary of how $50 billion in federal budget cuts approved by the U.S. House will affect low-income Oklahomans.

Oklahoma's four Republican congressmen voted for the measure, which was passed, 217-215, in an early morning vote. The only ``no' was cast by Democrat Dan Boren of the 2nd Congressional District.

The measure is designed to reduce the federal deficit by the end of the decade by curbing benefit programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and student loan subsidies.

Ben Hardcastle, spokesman for the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education, said his agency will continue to monitor the bill's progress, ``but the way things look right now, these cuts could affect many people and could definitely have an adverse effect on access to college. That's unfortunate.''

George Johnson, spokesman for the Department of Human Services, said officials are reviewing the legislation, but noted it was only passed in the House and a final compromise will have to be reached with the Senate.

``What is of serious consideration for the Department of Human Services is that nearly two out of the three dollars we operate on come from federal sources,'' Johnson said.

For instance, he said the DHS food stamp program in the fiscal year ending June 30 cost $445.2 million out of a total DHS budget of $1.4 billion.

Monica Barczak of the Tulsa-based Community Action Project said the cuts would ``negatively affect the ability of low- and moderate income Oklahomans to achieve economic self sufficiency.''

Barczak said the House plan would cut $11.9 billion over five years from Medicaid, mainly by increasing co-payments and monthly premiums of Medicaid recipients.

``What we are concerned about is these types of cost-sharing burdens impede recipients' ability to access health care benefits. In other words, it chases them out of the system,'' she said.

``We also are concerned about potential effects on food stamps, child care and child care enforcement.''

Boren said he voted against the cuts ``because they make it harder to get child support from deadbeat dads, force millions more in out-of-pocket costs on Oklahoma's 677,000 Medicare recipients and cripple rural economic development programs many of our communities depend on.

``In addition, the student loan program takes its largest cut ever, making it more difficult for nearly 100,000 Oklahomans to get the education they need to compete in today's economy.''

But Reps. Ernest Istook and Frank Lucas said the reductions are necessary to get a handle on the federal deficit.

``This measure only slows Medicaid's growth from 7.3 percent to 7.0 percent over the next five years. That's not a dramatic reduction, but it's at least a start,'' Istook said.

``We must use the same responsible logic in spending federal dollars that American families use,'' Lucas said. ``When family budgets are strained, they cut back their spending and the federal government should use the same restraint.''