The Daily Background

Associated Press:

Two Democratic senators said Thursday they have found a way to pay for a program to fund rural schools without selling 300,000 acres of national forests, as the Bush administration has proposed.

Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Ron Wyden of Oregon said their plan would raise $2.6 billion over the next 10 years for the rural schools program by closing a tax loophole they said allows some government contractors to avoid tax obligations.

The bill is intended to circumvent a Bush administration plan to sell 300,000 acres of Forest Service lands to raise about $800 million for rural schools in 41 states.

Lawmakers from both parties have denounced the plan, saying the permanent loss of public lands isn’t worth the short-term gain to schools. They also say it wouldn’t raise enough money to help rural governments pay for schools and other services.

Ugh. Of course, this Administration (which loves to use private contractors for everything) will be opposed to this plan which would allow America to keep its national forests. It’s disusting how quickly they jump to come up with the least environmentally friendly solution possible– namely selling national forests to private parties (most likely lumber companies, or land developers who would de-forest the area). Full article.

Filed under: Environment Related, Z-TDB Blog