Walden chides Demos on county bux
From our weekly issue dated June 11, 2008
In Washington, D.C., after the House on Thursday, June 5 came 56 votes short of passing a flawed version of the county payments bill, Second District Congressman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) released the following statement:
“We repeatedly warned the sponsor of the bill and Democratic leadership that their strategy of stripping PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) and paying for this bill by illegally breaking federal contracts would fail.”
The bill was sponsored by Fourth District Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.)
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Walden continued that, “We repeatedly warned that breaking the promise to find a legal and sustainable offset would doom the bill’s chances on the floor. And we repeatedly warned that they would create a significant hardship for the national coalition supporting both county payments and PILT.
“Today’s outcome was as predictable as it was unnecessary. I will continue to work on an alternative funding mechanism -- which the bill’s sponsor voted for last Congress -- that would fund county payments and PILT and produce more American energy and jobs.
“The coalition supports my alternative because it could actually become law. I’m confident that a bipartisan majority in the House would too if we’re given the opportunity to vote on it.
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“It’s time to get this issue back on a positive track and adopt real solutions for our rural counties,” Walden stated.
In the very short term, we must focus on keeping the one-year extension of county payments in the emergency supplemental bill. I hope that the majority leadership will give rural counties some breathing room by keeping the one-year extension intact in a bill that can be signed into law.”
Without the continued federal payments to make up for the lack of timber allowed for cutting, Josephine County stands to lose approximately $12 million. The money historically has been used to fund the sheriff’s office.
