Oregon, Idaho senators lead bipartisan push for critical county payments
WASHINGTON (KTVZ) Oregon and Idaho congressional leaders are pushing to ensure counties do not lose out on essential services due to federal land ownership.
The bipartisan push for reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program is led by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho).
The bill would reauthorize the SRS program through September 2022. The program, which helps fund essential services in rural communities home to federal land, expired in September 2020; the last payment under the current authorization is scheduled for April 2021, less than two months from now.
Recap: #DebForInterior confirmation hearing
Haaland, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna, spoke in the Keres language, acknowledged the nation’s capital as the homelands of the Nakochtank, Anacostan and Piscataway peoples and responded to numerous questions about the Biden administration’s priorities should be confirmed to lead the Department of the Interior at the hearing on Tuesday.
“If an Indigenous woman from humble beginnings can be confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, our country holds promise for everyone,” Haaland said in her opening statement.
Thank you, to my friend @RepDonYoung for introducing me at my confirmation hearing. I’m incredibly grateful for your support and the bipartisan solutions we were able to accomplish together. pic.twitter.com/IzBbahwSiF Deb Haaland (@DebHaalandNM) February 23, 2021
Vice President Mike Pence swears in retired astronaut Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) into the U.S. Senate at the U.S. Capitol Dec. 2, 2020, while Kelly s wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, stands by in support. Graeme Jennings-Pool/Getty Images
On Dec. 2, 2020. retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly was sworn in as a Democratic Senator of Arizona, ascending no longer into space, but to the same seat once held by the late Republican Sen. John McCain. Like McCain, Kelly is a former Navy pilot.
But Kelly has exceeded his Arizonian senatorial predecessors by many times in altitude. He and his twin brother, retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly who spent a record 340 consecutive days in space, took part in NASA s landmark DNA Twin Study to help understand how the human body adapts to long stays in space. And Mark Kelly s not the first astronaut to land into the upper chamber on Capitol Hill.
Bipartisan effort urges inclusion of county payments in end of year federal funding efforts argusobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from argusobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.