OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The rhetoric doesn't match the math when Gov. Brad Henry talks about plugging a billion-dollar shortfall in Oklahoma's current budget.

While the deficit is huge -- $729 million -- it is well short of the "more than $1 billion" Henry has cited since his State of the State address Feb. 1.

"It just doesn't reflect the actual shortfall this year," said David Blatt, director of policy for the Oklahoma Policy Institute think tank and a former budget analyst for the Oklahoma Senate.

State Treasurer Scott Meacham acknowledged Thursday that the $1 billion figure does not accurately describe Oklahoma's budget problem.

"It just isn't relevant to the discussion about what we need to do in (fiscal year 2010) to fill the gap between actual revenues and promised appropriations," he said.

Henry spokesman Paul Sund says the governor uses the $1 billion figure in public discussions "for simplicity's sake" but also allowed that the actual shortfall is smaller.

"It's a budget semantics issue that few people will understand," Sund told The Associated Press in an e-mail Thursday. "We have been trying to keep it simple for everyone because few people seem to understand the intricacies of the budget process."

That process turned combative Thursday, with legislative leaders criticizing Meacham for threatening a possible Henry veto of a revised 2009-10 budget.

Oklahoma's revenues during the current fiscal year initially were expected to be $5.4 billion, but budget officials revised that in December to $4.4 billion. That difference is $1 billion, but that doesn't take into account how Oklahoma's budget works.

Under the law, legislators can use only 95 percent of its initial revenue estimate for state programs. For this year, that amount is around $5.13 billion. To pay for programs, Oklahoma only needs the difference between $4.4 billion and $5.13 billion.

In real-world terms, consider a family making $50,000 a year. If it puts 5 percent each year for savings, it is left with $47,500 for household expenses. If the family suffers 19 percent drop in wages -- akin to Oklahoma's drop in tax revenue -- it would have only $40,500 available to spend. In the struggle to pay bills the family only needs to make up $7,000 -- not the amount that puts it back at $50,000.

Oklahoma state agencies have already made up $386 million of the deficit through budget cuts. A new revenue estimate is expected later this month.

The billion-dollar figure makes a bigger impression, one communication expert said.

"It could be a sincere belief on their part that the public wouldn't understand, or it could be a rhetorical strategy to excite a sense of urgency or distress or something that needs to be paid attention to," said Penni Pier, a professor from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, who specializes in the use of rhetoric. "Plus, a billion rolls easier off the tongue. If you want to make an impact, you use a number that sticks."

Meanwhile, legislative leaders criticized Meacham for telling The Associated Press that Henry could veto a revised 2009-10 budget if legislators played hardball during negotiations. Meacham specifically said legislators might put education, prisons and health care programs at risk.

"I think it's inappropriate and ill-advised to pick a fight," said Senate President Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.

House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, said Meacham's comments were not constructive.

"I think it's unfortunate that a veto threat has been brought up," Benge said.

Henry said Thursday that he remains confident he, Benge and Coffee can agree on a way to use money from Oklahoma's Rainy Day Fund to solve part of the budget woes.

"It (a veto) is always a tool," Henry said. "But we're a long, long way from discussion about vetoes.

"We will work it out."

Henry wants to use $485 million from the state's Rainy Day Fund to address part of the shortfall while legislative leaders want to tap only $225 million. They say Henry should use federal stimulus money to make up the difference. The governor says he fears restrictions on the federal money prohibit him from using it toward the shortfall, while maintaining too much in the reserve fund.

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