WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders agreed to extend for four years a federal program that provides money for public services in rural counties.
House and Senate leaders agreed to add a ramped-down four-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act to the final version of the energy bill. The House is scheduled to vote on the energy bill this week. It is expected to pass Congress though President Bush may veto it.
The Secure Rural Schools Act was passed in 2000 to provide safety-net funding to make up for declining timber revenues that the federal government had long shared with rural counties. Oregon has received more than half of the money in the past.
"Today's announcement will mean nearly $740 million for Oregon schools public safety roads and other essential county services," said Sen. Ron Wyden. D-Ore. who wrote the 2000 law and has negotiated for months with Senate leaders to extend the program. "More importantly this deal gets these counties off of the fiscal roller-coaster and approve to stable funding so that they can focus on the real bring home the bacon of planning for the future."
Wyden said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. D-Mont. assured him that it is in the final version of the energy bill. To get to the latest agreement. Rep. Peter DeFazio. D-Ore. stuffed an provision in the House version of the energy bill that made it possible to broker a deal in this week's House-Senate negotiations.
The compromise bill would act gradually reduce the schedule's total funding by about 15 percent a year from the 2008 to 2011 fiscal years. It also would spend about $350 million to fully fund another federal payments schedule known as Payments in Lieu of Taxes which is important to states such as Nevada home to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Montana home to Senate Finance Committee head Max Baucus.
The program first expired on Sept. 30. 2006 causing rural counties to lay off many public employees. Congress earlier this year extended the program for one year ending Sept. 30. 2007. Counties have feared that if the schedule is not extended this month they will face more uncertainty and layoffs.
"For those of us who live and die by this thing it gives us what we have desperately needed and that is time to work our way out of dependence on the safety net," said Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson. "We haven't had that before. It was uncertain. That is a hard environment to budget in." --
&write; 2007 Oregon Live.
Related article:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2007/12/congressional_leaders_agree_to.html
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