Executive Calendar

EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WYDEN, Mr. President, I am in full agreement with my friend and colleague from Montana. The idea to sell public lands to fund the secure rural schools reauthorization is a fundamentally flawed one. It pushes the debate over public lands and forestry back into the political briar patch despite the power of the legislation to bring traditional enemies together all across rural America in over 40 States and over 700 counties. It is because of the good work by my friend from Montana that this faulty idea is not assumed as part of this budget we debate today.

As Senator Baucus and I continue our exhaustive search in the next weeks for offsets to pay for the reauthorization of the county payments legislation, he and I will continue our work to defeat the ill-conceived and divisive idea of selling off public lands to pay for the continuation of such a collaborative and locally successful program. From his position as the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, on which I am privileged to serve with him, I feel sure that he will come up with the winning solution to offset the costs of reauthorizing this vital national program.

http://thomas.loc.gov/