[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3828]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         CONGRESSIONAL INACTION JEOPARDIZES UNION COUNTY ROADS

  (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. The failure of Congress to reauthorize the 
Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act amounts to a 
breach of faith to more than 600 forested counties and 4,400 school 
districts across our country.
  For Union County, Oregon, this means a third of the road department 
employees no longer will have a job, other county services will be cut, 
and another rural school district is left behind.
  Last night, County Commissioner Colleen MacLeod was making the 8-
hour, 616-mile round trip from her home in Union County to the State 
capital in Salem, where she and other commissioners around Oregon were 
meeting to discuss how a county declares bankruptcy. Commissioner 
MacLeod says, ``County governments, all they want is to be able to work 
for themselves, and the Federal Government needs to let us. We just 
want to be able to work in the woods.''
  Traveling with the commissioner was the Union County Chamber of 
Commerce Executive Director, Judy Loudermilk, who says, ``What affects 
one area in a rural community affects us all. Loss of these funds is 
devastating.''
  My colleagues, Congress must keep the Federal Government's promise to 
timbered communities. Pass H.R. 17 and do it now.

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