Political Quotes

“I urge the founders of this legislation to join in this amendment. Let us look at the history of PILT. Everybody says they are for PILT. PILT has never been fully funded. Why do we have PILT? We take hundreds of millions of acres out of rural counties, rural communities and we take them out of the tax base, and PILT is allowed, it says we are going to pay you so much back to help with local services. Last year, $320,000 million authorized, we only funded $135 million, and that is historic. It has never been funded. If you are serious about mandating $480 million worth of purchases by the Federal Government, $480 million worth of purchases by the States hereafter, live up to the law of PILT. Make it mandatory funding. Do not make local governments go without services, fire services, emergency services, road services without a tax base. Our rural lands that people go to, we need services. PILT was set up to pay for that. We pay pennies per acre. In Pennsylvania where I came from, we paid $1.20 an acre for every acre. That was not enough, in my view. You are taking money out of the land base. PILT is a formula to help local government provide the services that are necessary for the people who are going to use that land. In fairness, join us tonight and make PILT mandatory funding so we do not have to have this battle that we have launched year after year after year. Rural America has taken it in the neck long enough.”