Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 356, the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025, which is a lifeline for rural school districts that have experienced severe budget impacts since 2023 when the program was not reauthorized. This bill is vital to restoring critical funding, preventing further school closures, and ensuring rural students have access to quality education that can compete with urban communities.

However, this is not just an education issue. This is about investing in the future of rural America and supporting communities surrounded by Federal forests.

It is something I hear about regularly from the men and women of the Fourth District of Arkansas who share my understanding that our schools must be supported in a way that allows them to play a role as a community hub while also supporting our timber industry that is the lifeblood for many of our communities.

For generations, Arkansas counties with large swaths of Federal forest land have received a share of Federal timber harvest revenue on Federal land. Unfortunately, reduced timber revenue since the 1990s, as a result of declining rates of timber harvesting, litigation, and misguided environmental regulations, has drastically affected county revenue, creating very real economic impacts in its wake.

Franklin, Garland, Hot Spring, Howard, Johnson, Logan, Montgomery, Newton, Pike, Polk, Pope, Scott, and Yell Counties have lost millions of their SRS funding while waiting for this legislation to be reauthorized. Communities across Arkansas and the United States are sounding the alarm, and it is time for Congress to listen.

This bill not only shines a light on an educational issue but underscores the need for an increase in responsible forest management. That is why I introduced the Fix Our Forests Act earlier this year, which passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support. FOFA would not only result in more stable funding for working families, but it would also mitigate the devastation of wildfires in our wildland-urban interfaces through the restoration of forest health and commonsense management. I hope the Senate will act soon so we can send FOFA to the President's desk quickly to help our rural communities throughout Arkansas and the Nation.

It is time to restore revenue, revitalize resilience, and reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools legislation for our rural timber communities. This will be for our rural timber communities all across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague, Mr. LaMalfa, for the work that he has done on this, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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