Alan Simpson: “Mr. Chairman, the Simpson-Walden amendment to H.R. 701 is a common sense amendment that addresses one of the major…”

“Mr. Chairman, the Simpson-Walden amendment to H.R. 701 is a common sense amendment that addresses one of the major concerns that the constituents in my State have, that of giving the Federal Government $450 million annually to purchase land in States such as Idaho which already have a high percentage of Federal landownership, potentially little turning Idaho into a welfare state dependent upon the Federal Government. There are 52,960,000 acres in the State of Idaho. The Federal Government owns 34,519,000 of those acres. In other words, 65 percent of Idaho is owned and controlled by the Federal Government. There is more Federally owned land in Idaho than in the entire land mass of the States of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Removing private land from local property tax roles and not fully funding the PILT payments severely impacts Idaho's counties and local governments. Moreover, when the Federal Government absorbs private land and that land ceases to be productive, local communities are severely affected by the loss of economic activity and become more, not less, dependent upon the Federal Government.”