Barbara Cubin: “as the Members know, the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program, or PILT as it is called, compensates units of general…”

“as the Members know, the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program, or PILT as it is called, compensates units of general government for property taxes that they otherwise lose due to Federal ownership of the land within that locality. Our local counties then use these dollars to help fund essential services such as law enforcement, health care, education, firefighting, and search and rescue. Unfortunately, despite the local benefits to this program in all 50 States, a large majority of the congressional districts' full funding of PILT, as is authorized by law, is simply not a commitment that this Congress has been willing to meet in the past years. My home State of Wyoming has been denied over $75 million in PILT funding over the past 10 years that would have been used to make our communities safer, healthier, and cleaner. I truly appreciate the efforts of the gentleman from North Carolina (Chairman Taylor) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks), ranking member, to restore the PILT funding that the administration tried to cut. They even went a step further to show their support of PILT and added an additional $3 million over last year's level. However, this level funding still falls far short of the authorized level and it simply is not enough for these communities. The Cubin-Rahall-Cannon-Udall amendment would add $12 million to PILT by redirecting funds from the Department of Interior's management, salaries, and expenses at the higher levels.…”