Senate Extended Timber Payment Plans

Senate Extended Timber Payment Plans



March 2007 – The Senate today 
approved a bipartisan plan to extend payments to rural 
counties affected by declining revenues from logging on 
federal lands. The plan would provide money to more than 700 
counties in 39 states. 
Agreed to by a vote of 75-22, the plan was added as an 
amendment to the $122 billion emergency spending bill for the 
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Some $425 million of the $5 billion package will be paid for 
with emergency spending included in the bill, with the 
remainder funded by closing a series of yet to be identified 
tax loopholes. 
The plan is "a lifeboat to keep rural communities afloat," 
said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and cosponsor of 
the amendment. 
Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has been a leading 
voice on the issue of rural county payments. 
The plan provides $2.8 billion to reauthorize the Secure Rural 
Schools and Community Self-Determination Act through 2011 as 
well as $1.9 billion for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) 
program, which provides money to state and local governments 
for loss of tax revenues from federal lands in their state. 
The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act, 
passed in 2000 with broad bipartisan support, guaranteed 
payments to eligible rural counties for public education and 
transportation projects. 
The law was enacted because of declining timber sales on 
federal lands - the affected counties had historically 
received 25-50 percent of timber receipts from U.S. Forest 
Service and Bureau of Land Management lands. 
"This is not some kind of welfare program. These are not 
handout payments," Wyden told colleagues. "This is part of a 
100 year deal that came about when the federal forest system 
was created." 
Money from the program has been used to support more than 
4,400 schools, help maintain road systems and fund law 
enforcement in rural counties, but it expired in September 
2006. 
Falling timber harvests from federal lands have had adverse 
impacts on some rural counties. 
The Bush administration has proposed selling off public lands 
to fund a reauthorization of the law, but that concept has 
found little support in Congress. 
The plan gradually ramps down funding by 10 percent a year 
through 2011 while focusing support on those communities in 
greatest economic need. 
"A lot of folks east of the Mississippi don't recognized that 
we have counties that are 80 percent, 90 percent public 
lands," said Senator Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican. "This 
is a formula that stabilizes these communities." 
But it is unlikely the plan is the final word on the matter. 
The Senate must reconcile the plan with the House of 
Representatives, which only included a one-year $400 million 
extension to the county payments program in its version of the 
emergency war spending bill. And President Bush has vowed to 
veto the spending package, largely due to objections over a 
timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. 
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said finding 
a long-term solution to the problem of rural county payments 
is critical. 
"Our counties should not have to rely on emergency funding 
year after year and be faced with such uncertainty," Feinstein 
said. "We must provide our rural counties with a stable 
funding stream so that they are not in the same dire situation 
next year and can plan for the future." 
Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, argued more 
of the county payments money should be specifically earmarked 
for education. 
Debate in the Senate centered on an amendment to the plan 
offered by North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, who pushed 
for language to funnel some 85 percent of the new money 
specifically to rural schools. 
"I believe when you have a bill that says this money is going 
to be used for schools and communities, we should make a 
commitment that this money in fact does go to our nation's 
schools," Burr said. 
Burr, who supported the Wyden plan, pointed to the troubles at 
the nation's public schools, telling colleagues "if this were 
a disease in America, it would be called an epidemic." 
"With only 70 percent of our kids graduating with a high 
school diploma on time, maybe we ought to address that," Burr 
said. 
Proponents of the program contend rural schools are in 
desperate need of federal funding. 
Critics said Burr's plan would impose a one-size fits all 
solution on states and local communities, handcuffing their 
ability to tackle the specific needs of their citizens. 
The language would "disrupt funding decisions and local 
government operations around the country," Wyden said. "It 
seeks to dictate from Washington DC how this program should 
operate. What is best for Asheville North Carolina might not 
be best for Amity, Oregon." 
Burr made "no bones" about the fact that his plan would take 
away power from local communities. 
"That's absolutely right. I plead guilty," Burr said. "I wish 
they were as concerned about their children's education as I 
am." 
The Senate rejected Burr's amendment by a vote of 89-8. 





 

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