Time extension unlikely for timber payments

WASHINGTON – A last-ditch effort to pressure Congress to continue payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging appears to be failing, an Oregon lawmaker said late Thursday.

But Rep. Greg Walden said he and other Western lawmakers will continue to push for the program, which has distributed more than $2 billion to Oregon and other states in the past six years.

“We’re looking for every vehicle possible to get an extension of some duration at full funding,” said Walden, a Republican who chairs the forestry subcommittee in the House.

“It’s not over ‘til the last gavel goes down.”

Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year today.

Earlier Thursday, Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith said they filed an amendment to a tax-cut package that would extend the program for one year.

It would provide up to $500 million for 700 rural counties in more than 40 states, and would be paid for by closing a tax loophole that allows some government contractors to avoid their tax obligations.

The amendment was not accepted by congressional leaders but Walden, Wyden and other lawmakers said they would continue to push for the program.

“The county payments program has been a lifeline for our rural communities,” Wyden said Thursday in a statement. “It would be unconscionable for Congress to recess for the year without ensuring that our schools and law enforcement officials have the resources they need to keep their doors open.”

Smith, in the same statement, said the federal government needs to come up with a long-term solution that Oregon can depend on.

“We will continue to pursue every available funding avenue until the county payment program is extended,” he said. “Congress must not default on its obligation to Oregon,” which receives by far the biggest share of the money from the law, officially known as the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act.

The Bush administration has agreed to support a one-year extension of the law, which offers payments to rural counties – primarily in the West – that lost revenue when logging in national forests was reduced to protect the northern spotted owl, salmon and other wildlife.

The agreement did not include any guaranteed funding source, and administration officials have insisted that spending for the program be offset by spending cuts elsewhere.

Western lawmakers have been pushing for ways to pay for the program.

Local officials from Oregon to North Carolina came to the Capitol in September, saying that without the money there could be drastic cuts to school budgets in rural school districts across the country.

Even if the last-minute effort fails, Walden said the program could still be revived next year under a Democrat-controlled Congress, but he said there were no guarantees.