[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12641]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 FEDERAL FUNDING PROHIBITIONS OBJECTION

  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.

                          ____________________