Gluesenkamp Perez announces passage of rural schools and infrastructure funding

A heap of funding for schools, roads and other services in rural areas passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week and now heads to the president’s desk for approval.

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, appeared in a video on social media sharing her excitement shortly after the House passed the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act.

Her team released an announcement around the same time sharing the passage of the bill that would revitalize the Secure Rural Schools Program after its last batch of funding expired at the end of 2023.

Gluesenkamp Perez was in the majority of members of Congress who recently approved the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act. She is also one of the act’s seven original sponsors in the House. The bill ultimately passed with more than 90 sponsors in the House and additional sponsors in the Senate.

The congresswoman was part of the team to introduce the bill in February. Since then, she has continued to send letters to House leadership highlighting the consequences of the funding lapse.

According to the news release from the Gluesenkamp Perez’s team, the new bill will secure the funding through the end of the 2026 financial year. The Secure Rural Schools program distributes revenue funds from federal Forest Service lands. Revenues come from timber, grazing and fees for special use permits, according to the U.S. Forest Service website. The origins of the program stretch back to the early 1900s.

In the release, Gluesenkamp Perez and her team emphasized the importance of the Secure Rural Schools Program and described her commitment to supporting the program since before it expired in 2023.

“The Secure Rural Schools program is absolutely critical, and the passage of this legislation is beyond overdue,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “Candidly, the only reason it took this long is because way too many folks in D.C. have been blissfully ignorant about how disastrous the lapse of SRS has been for timber communities in Southwest Washington and across the West. Schools have closed up, teachers have been laid off, and our kids have been left footing the bill for Congress’s neglect.”

According to the congresswoman, the SRS program has sent approximately $7 billion in payments to more than 700 counties and 4,400 school districts across 40 U.S. states since it first began.

Gluesenkamp Perez has pointed out diminishing school staffing levels in Skamania County, the closure of Wind River Middle School and slowing progress on infrastructure improvement in Lewis County as some of the consequences of the funding expiring roughly two years ago.

In a short video the congresswoman posted to social media on Tuesday, Gluesenkamp Perez celebrated the passage of the bill. She simultaneously shared frustration with the tardiness of the funding, briefly describing its journey through Congress this year including it being separated from HB-1 – the Republican Party’s omnibus funding bill passed over the summer.

“I’m super excited because SRS passed today,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “Thank God. It’s late … Now finally we have passed SRS and so I’m so excited to see that money coming. Better late than never.”