Senate measure would give timber counties $425 million

The U.S. Senate may set aside $425 million as a short-term fix for the loss of federal money to rural schools and counties in timber country.

A Senate appropriations subcommittee added that amount to the spending bill designed mainly to pay for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That supplemental appropriations bill will be put to a Senate vote later this spring.

Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., were among those saying this is a good, albeit temporary, solution.

The spending amendment provides payments to rural school districts and counties that include large tracts of national forest, which are exempt from property taxes and have experienced declining revenues because of challenges to federal timber sales.

Some schools in North Idaho have said they use the money for everything from textbooks to building repairs.

Counties in northeastern Washington said they might not be able to repair all their roads or plow snow all winter without it.

“Without this program, many of our state’s counties will see their funding for schools, first responders and public services dry up,” Cantwell said in a news release announcing the extra spending.

Craig said the Senate proposal reauthorizes Resource Advisory Committees, a key part of the legislation that set up the payments in 2001.

He called the money a “one-year funding Band-Aid” but hoped that it would provide time for different groups to put aside their political differences for a long-term solution.