releases: https://walden.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/greg-walden-demands-answers-administration-surprise-cuts-last-oc-payment
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://walden.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/greg-walden-demands-answers-administration-surprise-cuts-last-oc-payment | Greg Walden demands answers from Administration on surprise cuts to the last O&C payment to Oregon counties | 2013-02-06 | 2013 | 2013-02 | Republican | House | OR | Greg Walden | W000791 | walden.house.gov | legacy | February 6, 2013 Instead of cutting funding, we should be cutting trees, Walden says WASHINGTONU.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) has demanded answers from the Interior Department and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about a decision to apply a 10 percent cut to last year's county payment that Congress authorized and funded for 18 Oregon and California Railroad (O&C) counties in western and southern Oregon, including Josephine, Jackson, and Klamath. This surprising raid on O&C funds by Interior or OMB is outrageous and unacceptable, and you must reverse it quickly before the payments are finalized and sent to the state for distribution to the counties. I understand that this may happen this week, so your rapid action is needed, Rep. Walden wrote to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and OMB Director Jeffrey Zients. Instead of cutting funding, we should be cutting trees. Our federally-forested communities are demanding that Congress act to provide certainty of timber harvests which will put people back to work in the woods. The impact of a 10 percent cut on counties who are already in a death spiral due to the lack of any meaningful production from our forests only underscores the need to get back to work in the woods which will grow healthy communities. Already, counties don't have the resources to keep sheriff officers on the streets and criminals in jail, to run their local governments and schools, or to maintain their roads. Creating jobs in the woods for police, teachers, and healthy local communities makes sense to me, said Rep. Walden. Within the past week, Rep. Walden has learned that either OMB or Interior Department officials decided to apply this cut to the one-year extension of county payments provided by Congress last year. While pointing to OMB as the responsible party, the Interior Department officials reasoned that the cuts were caused by across-the-board spending cuts set to go into effect. However, these payments to O&C counties are from the 2012 federal budgetary fiscal year, which is not subject to the across-the-board cuts. In January, the Forest Service provided its portion of the county payments to states without such problems. Furthermore, Congress has already delayed the impacts of the across-the-board cuts for a short period this year, so they have still not taken effect. Since hearing of this plan last week, Rep. Walden has attempted to get answers from Interior and OMB about this surprising decision. This letter was sent on Tuesday in order to make top Administration leaders personally aware of this situation. For a full copy of the letter, click here. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |