[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2706]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRESSIONAL INACTION JEOPARDIZES CROOK COUNTY AND OREGON SCHOOL 
                                PROGRAMS

  (Mr. WALDEN of Oregon asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, the failure of Congress to 
reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination 
Act is a breach of faith to more than 600 forested counties across 
America and 4,400 school districts.
  For Crook County, OR, this means real cuts in jail beds, sheriffs' 
patrols, criminal prosecutions and the pursuit of methamphetamine 
cooks. These services were once funded by timber receipts, but, because 
of the virtual elimination of timber harvest, a county which once 
supported seven saw mills employing thousands of people does not have a 
single operating mill today.
  Crook County Judge Scott Cooper says, ``The Federal Government has 
been pursuing a comprehensive strategy of disinvestment in rural 
communities,'' and he is right.
  Congress' inaction hurts our children, too. Central Oregonian Jeff 
Sanders, president of the Oregon School Boards Association, is here on 
Capitol Hill with us today pleading for Congress to act on the behalf 
of the 560,000 K-12 school children in Oregon.
  My colleagues, Congress must keep the Federal Government's word to 
timbered communities and pass H.R. 17. Time is running out.

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