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The U.S. Senate passed an energy bill Thursday evening that had been widely expected to be good news for Douglas County and other timber-dependent counties anxiously awaiting a four-year extension of the timber safety net.
Instead, the county payments plan was stripped from the bill before it came to a vote, placing more than 700 counties in 41 states in the position of losing millions of dollars in federal payments when the current one-year extension ends June 30.
The safety net plan had won bipartisan support but lost out after Democrats were unable to muster enough votes to end debate and force a vote on the energy bill.
Despite the support of Republican Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who joined all Western Democrats in supporting the call for a vote, the Senate fell one vote shy of the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster.
Afterward, Senate Democrats agreed to remove tax breaks for a wide range of clean energy industries from the energy bill, making it acceptable to Republicans who resisted the measure in its original form. At the same time, the safety net extension was removed from the final bill because it was one of numerous other programs contained in the overall tax package.
Last week, the House approved a plan that would have provided $1.5 billion in funding to extend the safety net through 2011. The bill would have provided $554 million for the timber program in the budget year that starts in October, with payments decreasing each year until they reach $202 million in 2011.
Douglas County, which receives about $52 million a year under the safety net, would have seen its payments reduced by 10 percent in the first year and by 35 percent in the final year. Other counties in Oregon, Washington and California, the states with the highest safety net payments, would have seen the same reductions.
An additional $350 million would have gone to mostly rural states through the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program that compensates states and counties for federal land within their jurisdictions.
“Congress had a golden opportunity to do what’s right for rural America, but they chose to turn their backs on our Main Streets,” said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Baucus was among a group of Western lawmakers, including Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who negotiated the timber deal.
The House-backed plan would have authorized $554 million for the timber program in the budget year that starts in October, with payments decreasing each year until they reach $202 million in 2012.
Lawmakers from both parties have worked for more than two years to extend the safety net that was passed in 2000, while former President Bill Clinton was in office, and expired in 2006. The extension has remained the top priority for members of Oregon’s congressional delegation and Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson has also played a vital role in efforts to reauthorize the safety net.
Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, who led House efforts for the safety net extension and who had fought for full funding rather than the ramped-down version pushed by the Senate, said he was disappointed by Thursday’s actions.
“This is devastating news for rural communities that depend on this funding for critical services like schools and law enforcement,” said DeFazio, D-Springfield. “This is must-pass legislation for those communities and I will continue to work to get a multi-year extension passed.”
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who with Wyden co-authored the 2000 safety net legislation, opposed the original energy bill “because it contained a $22 billion tax increase” that Craig opposes, Craig spokesman Dan Whiting said.
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., called removal of the timber payments “one more in a long list of failures by the leadership of this Congress to get its work done and solve the problems real people are facing every day in our country.”
Walden, in a statement e-mailed to reporters, went on: “No budget. No funding for our veterans. No county payments. No fix for the looming tax hike on the middle class. It’s been all politics all year with no real accomplishment. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. This place is dysfunctional.”
Josh Kardon, chief of staff to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Wyden was extremely disappointed that the timber money was removed, despite support from what he called an overwhelming majority of the Senate.
“A minority of senators on the other side of the aisle are denying rural counties their lifeline,” Kardon said. “In this case 40 senators supported President Bush in stiff-arming rural counties.”
Baucus, who had identified unused federal revenues to pay for the safety net extension, said he would continue to push for the legislation.
“This fight is far from over,” Baucus said. “We’ll come back and try again and again until we make our counties whole.”
<i>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</i>
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
Instead, the county payments plan was stripped from the bill before it came to a vote, placing more than 700 counties in 41 states in the position of losing millions of dollars in federal payments when the current one-year extension ends June 30.
The safety net plan had won bipartisan support but lost out after Democrats were unable to muster enough votes to end debate and force a vote on the energy bill.
Despite the support of Republican Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who joined all Western Democrats in supporting the call for a vote, the Senate fell one vote shy of the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster.
Afterward, Senate Democrats agreed to remove tax breaks for a wide range of clean energy industries from the energy bill, making it acceptable to Republicans who resisted the measure in its original form. At the same time, the safety net extension was removed from the final bill because it was one of numerous other programs contained in the overall tax package.
Last week, the House approved a plan that would have provided $1.5 billion in funding to extend the safety net through 2011. The bill would have provided $554 million for the timber program in the budget year that starts in October, with payments decreasing each year until they reach $202 million in 2011.
Douglas County, which receives about $52 million a year under the safety net, would have seen its payments reduced by 10 percent in the first year and by 35 percent in the final year. Other counties in Oregon, Washington and California, the states with the highest safety net payments, would have seen the same reductions.
An additional $350 million would have gone to mostly rural states through the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program that compensates states and counties for federal land within their jurisdictions.
“Congress had a golden opportunity to do what’s right for rural America, but they chose to turn their backs on our Main Streets,” said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Baucus was among a group of Western lawmakers, including Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who negotiated the timber deal.
The House-backed plan would have authorized $554 million for the timber program in the budget year that starts in October, with payments decreasing each year until they reach $202 million in 2012.
Lawmakers from both parties have worked for more than two years to extend the safety net that was passed in 2000, while former President Bill Clinton was in office, and expired in 2006. The extension has remained the top priority for members of Oregon’s congressional delegation and Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson has also played a vital role in efforts to reauthorize the safety net.
Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, who led House efforts for the safety net extension and who had fought for full funding rather than the ramped-down version pushed by the Senate, said he was disappointed by Thursday’s actions.
“This is devastating news for rural communities that depend on this funding for critical services like schools and law enforcement,” said DeFazio, D-Springfield. “This is must-pass legislation for those communities and I will continue to work to get a multi-year extension passed.”
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who with Wyden co-authored the 2000 safety net legislation, opposed the original energy bill “because it contained a $22 billion tax increase” that Craig opposes, Craig spokesman Dan Whiting said.
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., called removal of the timber payments “one more in a long list of failures by the leadership of this Congress to get its work done and solve the problems real people are facing every day in our country.”
Walden, in a statement e-mailed to reporters, went on: “No budget. No funding for our veterans. No county payments. No fix for the looming tax hike on the middle class. It’s been all politics all year with no real accomplishment. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. This place is dysfunctional.”
Josh Kardon, chief of staff to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Wyden was extremely disappointed that the timber money was removed, despite support from what he called an overwhelming majority of the Senate.
“A minority of senators on the other side of the aisle are denying rural counties their lifeline,” Kardon said. “In this case 40 senators supported President Bush in stiff-arming rural counties.”
Baucus, who had identified unused federal revenues to pay for the safety net extension, said he would continue to push for the legislation.
“This fight is far from over,” Baucus said. “We’ll come back and try again and again until we make our counties whole.”
<i>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</i>
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
