House vote on continuing timber payments falls short

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday defeated a bill that would have continued payments to rural counties hurt by federal cutbacks in logging.

A majority of lawmakers voted for the bill, but under special House rules, the bill was defeated. Supporters had brought up the bill under rules that did not allow any amendments. The 218-193 vote in favor of the bill — largely along party lines — was well short of the required two-thirds needed.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., denounced Republicans who voted against the bill, saying the vote dealt a huge blow to rural counties in Oregon and other Western states.

Many counties in southwest Oregon are about to lay off employees by the hundreds, DeFazio said — a scenario that could be repeated in rural counties across the country.

“We’re losing sheriffs patrols, jail beds, teachers and other vital public services,” DeFazio said.

DeFazio accused Republicans of siding with “already profit-rich oil and gas companies” instead of rural counties and schools.

But Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said DeFazio and majority Democrats were to blame for bringing up a flawed bill. Walden and other Republicans criticized DeFazio’s plan to pay for the timber program by charging oil companies for royalties they should have paid the government but did not because of a government error on drilling leases in the late 1990s.

DeFazio said the plan merely closes a loophole created when the Clinton administration failed to include a threshold requiring royalty payments by oil companies once market prices reach a certain level. Recovering money lost from the flawed 1998-99 leases has been a priority of lawmakers from both parties for years.

But Walden and other Republicans said the plan would face a likely court challenge and could violate terms of federal contracts with oil and gas companies.

“We repeatedly warned the sponsor of the bill and Democratic leadership that their strategy of stripping PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) and paying for this bill by illegally breaking federal contracts would fail,” Walden said. “Today’s outcome was as predictable as it was unnecessary.”

Walden, who supports the timber program, said he would work with DeFazio to find an alternative way to pay for it.

“It’s time to get this issue back on a positive track and adopt real solutions for our rural counties,” he said.

But DeFazio said any attempt by Republicans to expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico — even as a way to pay for the timber program — was doomed to fail.

Lawmakers from both parties have tried for several years to salvage the program, which helps pay for schools, roads and public safety in 700 rural counties in 39 states. Oregon gets the largest sum of money.