Automatic budget cuts could affect Vance AFB

Nov 18, 2011
In The News

ENID — Should the congressional supercommittee racing to reach a deficit-cutting agreement before Thanksgiving wind up laying an egg, the Department of Defense could face nearly $500 billion in budget cuts over the next decade.

If the bipartisan group, made up of six Republicans and six Democrats, does not come up with a plan to tackle the country’s budget woes, a series of automatic, across-the-board cuts are scheduled to go into effect.

What effect those cuts, coming on top of $450 billion in reductions already under way, would have on Vance Air Force Base are unknown, but Mike Cooper, city of Enid military liaison and chairman of Oklahoma Strategic Military Planning Commission, said everything is being done to position the base to weather whatever austerity measures come.

“Through our protection and enhancement efforts, we have positioned ourselves to be the most cost-effective, efficient training base in the military,” said Cooper. “Plus, you have to be joint if you are going to be a base that stays.”

Cooper pointed out Vance has room to expand within its gates, has “the best air space in the AETC (Air Education and Training Command), is the only Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training base in the Air Force and is host to an Armed Forces Reserve Center housing Army Reserve and Oklahoma National Guard troops.

“We are doing all the things we can to position ourselves for the future,” Cooper said. “We just don’t have a crystal ball to know what would happen. There are a lot of unknowns. We still hope that (automatic cuts) doesn’t happen. Everybody is in agreement that would be devastating.”

That sentiment was echoed by 3rd District Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla.

“While fighting two wars and facing a number of growing threats from abroad that will inevitably require continued investments in our national security,” Lucas said, “now is not the time to make unprecedented and immediate cuts to our nation’s defense spending. It is my hope that the supercommittee will reach an agreement by the Nov. 23 deadline in order to avert such disastrous consequences.”

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., couldn’t be reached for comment, but his spokesman, Jared Young, said, “There would be some state impact, but it is just too early to know for sure what that would be. Sen. Inhofe has said that amount of cuts would be absolutely devastating to our nation’s military.”

–30–

Recent Posts


Sep 24, 2024
Economy

Gensler and Peirce Disagree on Treasury Clearing Implementation

Washington, DC – Today, at a Financial Services hearing entitled Oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Congressman Lucas, SEC Chair Gary Gensler, and SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce discussed the need to extend Treasury clearing timelines. While Chair Gensler did not say, Commissioner Peirce agreed with Congressman Lucas that there is a need to extend these […]



Sep 23, 2024
Press

Lucas, Mullin Welcome $5.5 Million Investment to OSU to Enhance Weather Prediction

Cheyenne, OK – The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded Oklahoma State University (OSU) $5.5 million as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024. The purpose of these funds is to increase knowledge about local weather systems in the lower atmosphere, enabling the safe integration of small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Advanced […]



Sep 18, 2024
Press

Lucas Honors NASA’s Hidden Figures at Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony

Washington, DC – Today, House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Frank Lucas attended a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony, where he had the opportunity to honor the Hidden Figures, a group of women crucial to the space race. These women helped calculate the Apollo 11 mission to land the first astronaut on the moon. Medals […]