*** URGENT UPDATE ***

For those who may not already know, the President indicated on September 23 his desire to sign into law the Senate energy tax bill with county payments included. While the White House noted its support for a phase down of county payments (which the Senate bill accomplishes), the White House never threatened to veto the legislation with the four-year county payments extension. The White House stated in its official Statement of Administration Policy (linked below) that it “supports prompt passage” of the Senate legislation. If you have heard differently, it is an incorrect assertion. The President supports the enactment into law of the Senate bill with county payments in it.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/110-2/saphr6049-s.pdf

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Congressman Walden’s office via the contact information below.

=======================================

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

For Immediate Release

Contact: Andrew Whelan

Phone: (202) 226-7338

Greg Walden rallies bipartisan support for emergency county payments extension

Urges House leadership to reconsider and keep Senate bill intact

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) today released the following statement after learning that House majority leadership decided to drop the four-year extension of county payments from an energy tax package passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 93-2 in the Senate last night.

“The Senate worked very hard and in a model, bipartisan way to produce legislation with a long-term extension of county payments that the President said he would sign into law. That’s why I’m bitterly disappointed that the House Democratic leadership has decided to break that package up into three bills and kill the Senate’s multi-year county payments success. They’ve broken what was fixed, and are pushing rural counties and schools off the cliff in the process. I urge Speaker Pelosi and her leadership team to reconsider their decision and bring up the complete Senate bill with county payments intact for an up-or-down vote in the House.”

Congressman Greg Walden represents the Oregon’s Second Congressional District, which is comprised of 20 counties in eastern, southern, and Central Oregon. He is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and a member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

# # #