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Asked for his reaction Tuesday to news that a deal had been brokered to include a five-year extension of the timber safety net in an emergency spending bill, Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson smiled and threw his fist into the air.
“This is as much as we could have hoped for,” Robertson said. “This is a huge step forward.”
Senate Democrats unveiled the plan on Capitol Hill during a conference call with reporters. If approved, the proposal would provide $5 billion for rural counties and schools in Oregon and 38 other states.
The plan, authored by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from Nevada, will be attached to the emergency supplemental spending bill under consideration by Congress. President George W. Bush has given lawmakers until April 15 to have the spending bill, which includes money for continued military efforts in Iraq, on his desk.
Altogether, Oregon counties would receive 81 percent of current funding levels under the safety net — which expired in September — with a gradual reduction over the final four years. One-fifth of all of the dollars provided under the proposal, if approved, would still come to Oregon.
“This Democratic package represents a renewed federal commitment to the people of Oregon, the rural West and the nation,” Reid said.
“With Senator Reid’s leadership, we have crafted a lifeboat to keep rural communities afloat,” Wyden said. “This proposal will mean more than $1 billion for Oregon schools, public safety, roads and other essential county services. It couldn’t come at a more critical time.”
Under the plan, counties in Oregon, Washington and California — the three states that receive the most safety net funding because of the large acreage of federal forests within their borders — would receive less funding after the first year. However, about 85 percent of the counties that receive safety net funding throughout the country would see their payments increased.
For the western states, the proposal gives counties time to prepare for a gradual lowering of benefits and forestall a catastrophic loss of federal funding, Robertson said.
“It provides us with the most valuable commodity — time — without county finances unraveling,” Robertson said. “It would take enormous pressure off counties in Oregon and across the nation.”
If the proposal passes, Robertson predicted Douglas County would limit spending to about the same as this fiscal year, about $46.9 million in general fund expenditures. With increases to retirement benefits paid to the Public Employees Retirement System and added health insurance expenses, actual spending for programs and services would decrease.
About $500 million to pay for the plan the first year would come from emergency funding. The remaining four years would be paid for largely through tax loophole closures identified by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
A year ago, Wyden and Baucus offered a plan to finance extension of the safety net by closing a loophole that allows some federal contractors to avoid their tax obligations. Under the plan, the government would have withheld 3 percent of payments made to contractors as an advance payment on their tax liability.
The Bush administration later utilized the same idea to provide tax cuts and to pay for other programs. On Tuesday, Baucus declined to identify the potential funding source other than to say it would also involve the closure of tax loopholes.
“We don’t want the administration to take this and let the rural areas fight for the scraps,” Wyden said.
Concerns over the formula that determines how much each state receives — based upon historical timber harvest levels in each of the 700 safety net counties — had threatened to derail efforts to extend the law.
Tuesday’s agreement received the support of Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Bingaman had previously said a long-term extension of the safety net could not be passed without a change in the formula.
Reid told reporters it was “time for Congress to start flexing its muscle” in getting the safety net extended. For more than 100 years, the federal government has owed a commitment to states with large tracts of federal land that can’t be taxed.
“The federal government hasn’t done enough to fulfill its commitment to Nevada. I think the same applies to Oregon and Montana,” Reid said.
Baucus said the administration’s plan to sell off so-called marginal federal forest lands would not be considered.
For the past two years, the president has called for the land sales to finance a stripped-down extension of the safety net, which would be phased out over five years. That plan was met with bipartisan derision.
“We’re not going to sell our national forests,” Baucus said.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
“This is as much as we could have hoped for,” Robertson said. “This is a huge step forward.”
Senate Democrats unveiled the plan on Capitol Hill during a conference call with reporters. If approved, the proposal would provide $5 billion for rural counties and schools in Oregon and 38 other states.
The plan, authored by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from Nevada, will be attached to the emergency supplemental spending bill under consideration by Congress. President George W. Bush has given lawmakers until April 15 to have the spending bill, which includes money for continued military efforts in Iraq, on his desk.
Altogether, Oregon counties would receive 81 percent of current funding levels under the safety net — which expired in September — with a gradual reduction over the final four years. One-fifth of all of the dollars provided under the proposal, if approved, would still come to Oregon.
“This Democratic package represents a renewed federal commitment to the people of Oregon, the rural West and the nation,” Reid said.
“With Senator Reid’s leadership, we have crafted a lifeboat to keep rural communities afloat,” Wyden said. “This proposal will mean more than $1 billion for Oregon schools, public safety, roads and other essential county services. It couldn’t come at a more critical time.”
Under the plan, counties in Oregon, Washington and California — the three states that receive the most safety net funding because of the large acreage of federal forests within their borders — would receive less funding after the first year. However, about 85 percent of the counties that receive safety net funding throughout the country would see their payments increased.
For the western states, the proposal gives counties time to prepare for a gradual lowering of benefits and forestall a catastrophic loss of federal funding, Robertson said.
“It provides us with the most valuable commodity — time — without county finances unraveling,” Robertson said. “It would take enormous pressure off counties in Oregon and across the nation.”
If the proposal passes, Robertson predicted Douglas County would limit spending to about the same as this fiscal year, about $46.9 million in general fund expenditures. With increases to retirement benefits paid to the Public Employees Retirement System and added health insurance expenses, actual spending for programs and services would decrease.
About $500 million to pay for the plan the first year would come from emergency funding. The remaining four years would be paid for largely through tax loophole closures identified by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
A year ago, Wyden and Baucus offered a plan to finance extension of the safety net by closing a loophole that allows some federal contractors to avoid their tax obligations. Under the plan, the government would have withheld 3 percent of payments made to contractors as an advance payment on their tax liability.
The Bush administration later utilized the same idea to provide tax cuts and to pay for other programs. On Tuesday, Baucus declined to identify the potential funding source other than to say it would also involve the closure of tax loopholes.
“We don’t want the administration to take this and let the rural areas fight for the scraps,” Wyden said.
Concerns over the formula that determines how much each state receives — based upon historical timber harvest levels in each of the 700 safety net counties — had threatened to derail efforts to extend the law.
Tuesday’s agreement received the support of Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Bingaman had previously said a long-term extension of the safety net could not be passed without a change in the formula.
Reid told reporters it was “time for Congress to start flexing its muscle” in getting the safety net extended. For more than 100 years, the federal government has owed a commitment to states with large tracts of federal land that can’t be taxed.
“The federal government hasn’t done enough to fulfill its commitment to Nevada. I think the same applies to Oregon and Montana,” Reid said.
Baucus said the administration’s plan to sell off so-called marginal federal forest lands would not be considered.
For the past two years, the president has called for the land sales to finance a stripped-down extension of the safety net, which would be phased out over five years. That plan was met with bipartisan derision.
“We’re not going to sell our national forests,” Baucus said.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
