House Legislators Secure One-Year Extension of Rural Schools Act
March 9 - The Gannet News Service has reported that congressional representatives have succeeded in getting a one-year, $400 million extension for the Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Act by including language in an emergency funding bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2000, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act to make up for the shared revenue that timber counties lost to the decline of logging in national forests. Last year, Congress failed to reauthorize the Act and the law expired in September. Counties received their last checks in December.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) are reported to be working on a similar one-year extension included in the Senate version of the bill, which is expected to be considered in the next few weeks.
For more information, visit the website of Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-OR).
To read an article about the programs extension, visit the website of the Statesman Journal
