Wyden and Senate Colleagues Push for County Payments Funding
Funding is "vital to the survival of over 775 rural counties"
WASHINGTON, DC - Working to secure vital funding for hundreds of rural counties -- including 33 in Oregon -- U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) along with twenty Senate colleagues sent a letter today to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) highlighting the broad support for a four year extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, commonly called "county payments," and full funding of the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Program (PILT).
"Counties cannot be left hanging," said Senator Wyden. "In Oregon and across the country, county governments are in limbo, unable to fund vital services such as police, fire protection, or education. This letter is a powerful statement of support for the lifeline that these counties need."
Last year by a vote of 74 to 23 the Senate approved a Wyden-authored, multi-year extension of the county payments law as part of the FY 2007 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill; however after negotiations with the House of Representatives, the law was only extended for one year. Earlier this year, a one-year extension of the county payments law was included by Wyden in an emergency domestic spending bill, which passed the full Senate by a veto-proof majority of 75 to 22. The county payments funding was not accepted by the House of Representatives. Today's letter requests that county payments funding be included in an upcoming emergency supplemental appropriations bill.
The full text of the letter is below and available online at: http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/071608countypayments_letter.pdf
July 16, 2008
The Honorable Robert C. Byrd
Chairman
Committee on Appropriations
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Thad Cochran
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Appropriations
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Colleagues:
As you develop an emergency supplemental appropriations bill to fund critical government programs, we appeal to you to include the language of Senate Amendment 709 to reauthorize and fully fund a four-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-393) ("county payments program") and fully fund the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Program ("PILT").
The Senate recognized that the bipartisan proposal would provide a necessary economic safety net to thousands of counties across the country, and it passed the Senate by a 74-23 vote on last year's supplemental appropriations bill. Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming support for the proposal, only one year of funding for the county payments program was enacted in the conferenced version of last year's emergency supplemental bill. One year of funding was also included in the Senate-passed version of the previous emergency supplemental passed earlier this year, but was not included in the final version of the bill.
The PILT program supports more than 1,900 counties in 49 States across the country, and the county payments program, and funding for it, is vital to the survival of over 775 rural counties and 4,400 schools near national forests in 42 states across the country. A number of counties and schools around the country have already sent out hundreds of pink slips notifying employees of layoffs that will become permanent if the county payments program is not reauthorized. The thousands of counties and schools that rely on these programs currently are facing even further economic challenges. The dramatic downturn in the real estate market has had a particularly acute impact on local budgets. It is thus even more urgent today than it was last year to provide counties with both the immediate support and the ability to plan a long-term recovery strategy that the four-year extension would provide. Without reauthorization of and funding for these programs, the predicament will be an emergency without rescue for hundreds and hundreds of counties across America.
We very much appreciated your support for this proposal last year, and look forward to working with you again this year to finally enact it into law.
Sincerely,
Ron Wyden
United States Senate
Mike Crapo
United States Senate
Jeff Bingaman
United States Senate
Ted Stevens
United States Senate
Max Baucus
United States Senate
Lisa Murkowski
United States Senate
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
Roger Wicker
United States Senate
Patty Murray
United States Senate
Gordon H. Smith
United States Senate
Maria Cantwell
United States Senate
Robert Bennett
United States Senate
John D. Rockefeller IV
United States Senate
Jon Tester
United States Senate
Barbara Boxer
United States Senate
Larry Craig
United States Senate
Carl Levin
United States Senate
Bill Nelson
United States Senate
Ken Salazar
United States Senate
Debbie Stabenow
United States Senate
Harry Reid
United States Senate
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