Support for Rural Schools

Floor Speech

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Mr. BAUMGARTNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 356, the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025, which will be considered under suspension of the rules this week. I urge its swift passage so it can be sent to the President's desk without delay.

For generations, the Secure Rural Schools program has been a lifeline for rural communities and school districts across America. Since 1908, Federal law has required the U.S. Forest Service to share 25 percent of revenues from Federal forest lands with local governments to support public education.

As timber revenues declined due to foolish Federal regulations and reduced harvests, Congress acted in 2000 to create the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, preserving vital funding for most rural counties. When last reauthorized in 2023, this program delivered more than $281 million nationwide to help keep teachers in classrooms and students on the bus.

I represent rural counties like Pend Oreille, Stevens, Ferry, and Columbia Counties, where school leaders tell me how essential these funds are to keeping programs running.

This is not a partisan issue. It is a promise to rural America. Let's reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025 and keep faith with the communities that steward our national forests. Recognizing Environmental Stewardship in Our Forests

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Mr. BAUMGARTNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the timber industry and the harvest of trees in our forests.

When I was growing up, my father was a forestry professor at Washington State University and my uncle was a smokejumper. I served in the U.S. Forest Service.

Years of fear and hesitation around commonsense tools like select timber harvest and controlled burns have left many of our forests dangerously overgrown and chronically undermanaged. We need to harvest more timber for the economic revenue it produces and for the reduced fire danger it creates.

Good environmental stewardship means empowering these professionals to be part of the solution and to help manage our Federal forest lands responsibly for today and generations to come. Gray Wolf Population Reduction in Washington State

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Mr. BAUMGARTNER. Mr. Speaker, with gray wolf populations reaching over 400 in Washington State and Oregon, I rise today to warn of the danger they continue to pose for hunters, farmers, and livestock.

Gray wolves can consume up to 7 pounds of meat a day. Their primary food sources include deer, elk, and cattle. In August 2025 alone, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reported that three calves were killed and two injured in just one 30-day period.

Folks in our region know why our grandparents worked so hard to control the gray wolf population. They understood that balance must be kept between wildlife preservation and the livelihoods of those who live and work the land.

With a significant number of these wolf packs now concentrated in northeastern Washington and with no signs of their growth slowing, Congress should take careful note of our ranchers' perspective. Their continued loss, emotional toll, and frustration caused by inconsistent State and Federal protections demand attention and action. A one-sided policy of unchecked expansion is not the answer.

Gray wolf populations have recovered. Now it is time to ask whether our current path reflects balance, fairness, and common sense for rural America. As everyone in rural America knows, particularly in Washington State, if there were wolves in Bainbridge Island or in the suburbs of Seattle, the wolf population in Washington State would be a little different.

Mr. Speaker, we need to bring common sense and balance back and reduce our wolf population in northeastern Washington.

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