War spending bill adjusts federal timber aid extension.

Byline: Christian Wihtol The Register-Guard

The possibility that President Bush might approve timber aid for rural counties, including Lane, remained alive Wednesday as Congress settled on details of an Iraq war spending bill that includes a year's worth of reduced county aid.

House and Senate negotiators erased from the spending bill a Senate plan that would have provided $5 billion to extend payments to rural counties for five years.

Instead, they opted to include a $425 million, one-year extension of timber payments, plus other domestic spending not requested by the president.

The bill will go to Bush, who has previously criticized lawmakers for pushing the county payments aid, saying the county financial shortfalls don't constitute an emergency.

The bill that Democrats are preparing to send Bush would provide $120 billion to pay for the war in Iraq through September and would not demand that troops leave Iraq by a certain date. Bush vetoed a previous bill that set deadlines for troop departure that also included money for counties. The White House also has criticized Congress for offering short-term funding of the Iraq war, saying that hamstrings the administration.

But Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said he expects Bush to sign this latest bill.

Lane and scores of other counties across the country with extensive federal timberland have for years received timber aid payments. Those payments are running out this summer.

The failure of House and Senate leaders to include a five-year aid package drew fire from a spokesman for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who said it ignored needs of rural counties in Oregon and 38 other states.

``The House leadership chose to stand with President Bush instead of with rural counties,'' said Josh Kardon, Wyden's chief of staff. Kardon vowed that Wyden would bring up the five-year plan ``again and again if necessary for the federal government to honor its obligation to the counties.''

But DeFazio, who led House efforts to secure the timber money, said he was pleased with the new bill.

Last week, voters in Lane and four other Oregon counties defeated ballot measures to raise local taxes in order make up for the pending demise of federal timber aid. In Lane, 71 percent of voters opposed a county income tax.

"Given the defeat of local tax measures around the state last week, it's clear that rural counties need this emergency funding more than ever," DeFazio said.

"I wish we could have prevailed on the five-year extension, but we need a tourniquet to stop the bleeding while we continue to push for longer-term funding, and this bill will provide that," DeFazio said. "This emergency funding will help stave off some of the layoffs and cuts in critical services like law-enforcement and health care, and prevent the state from having to take over those essential services while we work on a longer-term solution."

Lane County is preparing to lay off 250 workers if the federal aid doesn't materialize. Historically, Lane has received about $47 million in federal timber aid annually. It's not clear how much Lane would receive under the pending bill.

Meanwhile, commissioners in Curry County, assuming federal aid will not materialize, want the National Guard to help provide security along the southwest Oregon coast.

The commissioners have asked Gov. Ted Kulongoski declare a state of emergency in Curry, where voters last week overwhelmingly defeated a property tax measure to raise taxes to help offset the pending loss of federal aid. Curry plans broad layoffs beginning Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.