Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of New Mexico's Second Congressional District to celebrate a long-awaited victory for rural America, the imminent passage of the bipartisan Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act.

I preface my remarks by thanking Representatives LaMalfa and Neguse, who introduced this bill, and Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Craig. We would not be standing here today without their leadership and outpouring of strong, bipartisan support that we have seen for this bill both here in Congress and on the ground in our communities.

For decades, SRS has been more than an abstract Federal program. It has been a promise, a promise that when Federal lands limit local tax revenue, Congress will stand with rural communities and school districts so that they continue to provide the basic essential services that every American family deserves.

Rural communities across the country and in New Mexico know this story well. In Catron, Grant, Sierra, and Otero Counties in my district, national forests define our landscape, and they define who we are. They are the treasures that we value and protect. Yet, those beautiful lands also mean fewer taxable acres, fewer revenue streams for public schools, and fewer resources to maintain the roads that our families travel every day.

For more than 20 years, SRS helped close that gap. It ensured that public schools could keep teachers in the classroom, that buses could run safe routes on rural roads, and that county governments could plan long-term budgets with certainty.

It ensures that children growing up in frontier communities receive the same shot at a quality education as anyone in major cities in my district, like Albuquerque or Las Cruces. It ensures that when there was a medical emergency in the middle of the night, emergency medical services had the roads that they needed to save lives.

That stability vanished when SRS expired in 2024. Rural counties across the West, including mine, were forced to make impossible decisions.

In New Mexico alone, our communities lost more than $9 million in a single year. That $9 million loss meant school districts had to consider laying off teachers and reading specialists and cutting back to a 4-day school week in a place like Quemado because they could no longer afford to operate a 5-day school week.

County commissions were forced to take a hard look at their budgets, looking line by line at what vital services they could cut to ensure their communities could maintain their roads.

This past August, I met with a bipartisan group of county officials, educators, and Tribal leaders back home to discuss SRS and the need for reauthorization. Their message didn't waver: Rural communities needed Congress to act. They needed certainty. They needed this lifeline to their communities restored.

Today, after months of fighting for reauthorization, we are delivering on a bipartisan basis. Today, we are sending a clear message to rural communities across New Mexico and across the country that they are not invisible, not expendable, and not expected to bear the weight of this lapse alone.

The Senate has already passed this reauthorization, and I urge my colleagues to help us finish the job and send the bill to the President's desk for his signature.

This is the kind of win that New Mexicans sent me to Washington, D.C., to deliver, and it is worth celebrating.

This legislation represents the best of what Congress can achieve when we put aside partisanship and focus on the people we serve. It reflects both Democrats' and Republicans' shared understanding that rural counties take on an enormous responsibility in managing and stewarding our national forests, and their kids should not be left behind because of it.

It is a recognition that public lands benefit our entire Nation, and the cost of maintaining essential services like schools and roads should not fall solely on the shoulders of rural families.

For New Mexico's Second Congressional District, this bill means stability. It means that school districts can retain teachers, hire staff, and keep programs in place that enrich our children's futures. It means that our sheriffs, firefighters, and first responders have reliable funding for the roads and infrastructure that they depend on when every second counts.

Passing SRS reauthorization also honors the frontier spirit that defines rural New Mexico. Communities like Silver City, Cloudcroft, Quemado, and many others throughout New Mexico continue to lead in forest conservation, outdoor recreation, wildfire resilience, and natural resource management. They deserve a Federal partner that matches their commitment, and today, they are getting that.

Mr. Speaker, both New Mexico and I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who worked tirelessly to bring this legislation to the finish line. I also thank the local leaders, our county commissioners, school superintendents, teachers, parents, and firefighters, just like these folks here in Fence Lake, who raised their voices and never let this issue slip from their attention.

As this bill is signed into law, I look forward to witnessing the relief that it will bring across New Mexico in time for Christmas. I look forward to seeing teachers stay in their classrooms, rural roads being repaired and maintained, and families in these rural counties finally receiving the stability that they have been promised but denied for too long.

Today is a good day for rural America. Today is a good day for New Mexico.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to vote in favor of the SRS Reauthorization Act, and I urge my colleagues to join me in its passage. I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. VASQUEZ. Salinas), my distinguished colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I want to highlight two particularly important projects in my district that sit in the Gila National Forest and are surrounded by the rural communities of Glenwood, New Mexico; Quemado; and Reserve. These are two incredibly important projects that have helped diversify rural economies and helped support the outdoor recreation economy: the Catwalk historic trail and the Cosmic Campground.

These two projects on Federal public lands have brought in very important economic revenue to these communities. They have brought in tours from all across the country to see the darkest skies in the country in what is an International Dark Skies Sanctuary and one of the most breathtaking trails that one can experience in our Nation's first wilderness.

Regardless, SRS is incredibly important to help ensure that our schools and our roads continue to function as we expand New Mexico's outdoor recreation economy.

Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank Chair Westerman for his support of the Fix Our Forests Act, introducing that bill, and I hope that it does make it to the Senate.

I think as we talk about the longevity of rural communities and sustainability of rural communities, we have to have good forest management and a diversified economy that includes the timber industry, cattle growing, and outdoor recreation. So much of that depends on the health of our public lands.

I am encouraged by the bipartisanship shown on this bill today. I hope we can have more conversations and we can pass SRS out of the House today so that we can ensure that these rural communities have a future that is not dependent on Federal funding but that has a diversified economy that uses our natural resources wisely.

I think we can all recognize what a special moment this is for our rural communities. These days, Democrats and Republicans don't often see eye to eye long enough to get a piece of legislation like this all the way to the President's desk. The fact that we will today shows just how important we all know it is to stand up for our rural communities.

For New Mexico, this is real money with real impact. Our rural communities have been missing more than $9 million that should have been supporting schools, roads, and essential services. I am proud to be bringing that money back to the families and communities that have waited for far too long.

I also want to take a moment to recognize some of the incredible New Mexican advocates who helped make today possible. This is not a full list, but it is a long one, so bear with me. Our Secure Rural Schools champions in New Mexico's Second District include: Kayli Ortiz, Amber Vaughn, Randall Earwood, Charlene Webb, William Hawkins, Kate Fletcher, Joy Esparsen, David Lackey, and Deborah Mahler. These are the folks who showed up, spoke out, organized their neighbors, and never let us forget what was at stake.

I thank every constituent who wrote, called, and shared their stories with our office. Their advocacy drove much of this effort. Their persistence is why we are passing this bill into law today.

Again, I thank my Republican colleagues for working on this piece of legislation with me and other members of the committee.

I am proud of my community. I am grateful for their trust. Once again, they proved something that we all know back home: Don't mess with rural New Mexicans.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source