Federal Funding Prohibitions Objection

Floor Speech

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, consistent with Senate standing orders and my policy of publishing in the Congressional Record a statement whenever I place a hold on legislation, I am announcing my intention to object to any unanimous consent request to pass S. 101 Federal funding prohibitions unless it clarifies that it will not prohibit payments under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act.

This legislation, as currently drafted, has the potential to impede critical

payments to over 700 rural and forested counties all across the United States. Those payments are paid to counties with Federal forest lands under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, and they are part of the Federal Government's guarantee to share funding from the Federal forests with the counties in which those forests are located. Declining receipts spurred the creation of this program to compensate for the loss of receipts from Federal forests. Many counties depend on this funding to pay for schools, roads, and other important county services--including funding search and rescue operations on Federal lands. Particularly in tough economic times, these payments have been a lifeline to many counties. It is not an exaggeration to say that some of these counties might face bankruptcy without these payments. Because of the importance of these payments to many county budgets and the fact that many of them might be in a very vulnerable financial situation without those payments--including several counties in my home State of Oregon--this legislation might very well impact them and prohibit these critical payments. I simply cannot let that happen. This program has consistently received bipartisan support, and it should not be arbitrarily be limited by S. 101.

Therefore, I must object to this legislation moving forward until it is explicitly clarified that it will not block any of these critical payments. Until that occurs, I will object to a unanimous consent request to pass the legislation.

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