Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to express my disappointment about a matter of great importance to Wyoming and many other Western States. The continuing resolution before us does not include critical funding that nearly 1,900 counties in 49 States rely on. Local governments are responsible for providing fire protection, law enforcement, sanitation, public health, and education, to our constituents. They provide these services largely by raising local revenue, including property taxes. In States where there is little federally owned land, local communities have a large number of private homeowners to help provide these services. But in States such as my home State of Wyoming, the Federal Government owns much of the land. The problem is that these Federal lands cannot be taxed. The Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, or PILT, has been in place for decades and is, essentially, the Federal Government's property taxes. Last year's omnibus appropriations package did not fund PILT. Instead, the Farm bill provided 1 year of PILT funding. And since Congress has not passed appropriations bills through regular order this year but is leaving fiscal year 2014 funding on autopilot, PILT isn't addressed in the legislation we are considering today. Yet local governments must still provide critical fire, law enforcement, and health services in these areas and for the people who work on them. What are we supposed to tell our communities that rely on this money for 40 to 80 percent of their budgets?…”