December 7, 2020 3:10 a.m.

On Friday, Congressmen Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader were part of a group urging congressional leadership to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools Program and robust funding for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program in the appropriations process.

The letter said “SRS and PILT serve as a lifeline for rural America’s local governments and now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the budgets of these rural counties have taken a hit”. It said the programs fund roads, schools, law enforcement and essential county services, such as public health programs.

DeFazio and Schrader said with additional demands on their resources as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, rural communities and counties are stretched thinner than ever. The lawmakers urged leadership to advance reauthorization of SRS and to maintain funding for PILT as funding negotiations continue for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The release called SRS “a lifeline” to over 775 counties in more than 40 states. Historically the federal government shared with county governments 25 percent of timber sales from federal forestlands and 50 percent of revenues from certain lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The release said due to declining timber sales and county revenues, Congress first passed SRS in 2000 to provide a measure of compensation for counties containing federal timberland.