FISTA funding to be considered in new federal budget

While funding for FISTA Innovation Park didn’t make the cut for the current federal fiscal year, U.S. Congressman Tom Cole expects that project to be among his earmarks in next year’s budget.

Cole, R-Oklahoma, confirmed in March that $7 million that he had designated for FISTA was among the casualties of the Continuing Resolution that Congress passed with bipartisan support — and a lot of criticism. No congressional earmarks make it through that process, Cole said last week in an editorial board meeting at The Lawton Constitution, explaining that is why FISTA and other projects he supported for Oklahoma’s Fourth Congressional District are not funded this fiscal year.

The good news: Congress already is working toward a new budget for the Federal Fiscal Year that begins Oct. 1, and as long as that budget is a real one, congressional earmarks will be part of it. The portal to apply for federal grants already is open, Cole said, predicting that entities such as FISTA already have or are making plans to become one of the 15 projects he can fund in 2025-2026.

“We’re already accepting applications,” he said, adding FISTA is an easy project to support because the idea for an innovation park for military defense contractors was a wholly local idea — not one that someone else forced on the community. “Local people invested in it.”

The House already is well at work on next year’s budget, Cole said, adding members are waiting for the president’s proposed budget, something they expect to receive sometime toward the end of April, even though law specifies that budget is due by mid-February.

“No new president does that,” Cole said of the February deadline, adding that the president’s “skinny budget” is one the House can use to craft the 12 bills that comprise the annual budget process.

Other updates from Cole:

Signal group chat leak: “It was sloppy, for sure. Poorly thought out, for sure,” Cole said, disagreeing with those who say the entire issue is a tempest in a teapot. “We should admit he (Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg) shouldn’t have been in that group chat. Take responsibility and move on.”

Cole said no security breaches were seen and no American lives were lost because of actions by Goldberg to delay publication. But, Cole doesn’t believe the issue is comparable to Hillary Clinton and her email servers. “Hillary meant to deceive,” Cole said. “Hillary destroyed evidence after the fact.”

By contrast, Signal was a mistake, Cole said, adding that whoever set up the group chat “messed up.”

“We need to admit it,” he said. “We messed up.”

Ukraine: Is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s distrust of Russian President Vladimir Putin warranted?

“I wouldn’t trust him; he’s absolutely right about that,” Cole said, adding while he doesn’t trust Putin, he also doesn’t believe Russia can attack all of NATO, whose member countries have an economic strength Russia doesn’t have. He also said that while Ukraine was right to defend itself, he agrees with Trump that it’s time to end the war.

“It’s dangerous. I don’t necessarily disagree with Trump on it,” he said, adding that Russia was the aggressor.

Social Security: Social Security isn’t going away, Cole said, explaining that the role of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is to take on fraud that is causing waste. “A lot of that is in Medicare,” he said, of what should be the focus of reform efforts. Cole has argued that point for years, saying the process government went through in 1983 led to reforms that kept the program solvent for 50 years — and that 50-year mark is here. That means it is time for another bipartisan reform process.

“Democrats won’t talk about the abuses,” he said, pointing to supported programs such as allocating $1 million to sex change operations.

He said while the year to watch for is 2033 — when the program is projected to go bankrupt — that doesn’t mean there won’t be money. Cole predicted there will be efforts made before then: taxing more income and extending the year recipients can first claim full Social Security, as they did in 1983.

Is privatization an option? Norway does it, Cole said, adding it is an option that needs to be explored.