Urge Your Representative to Sign This House Letter in Support of Pilt Congressional Letter in Support of the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Program
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URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO SIGN THIS HOUSE LETTER IN SUPPORT OF PILT CONGRESSIONAL LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE PAYMENTS IN LIEU OF TAXES PROGRAM March XX, 2015 The Honorable John Boehner The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker Minority Leader U.S. House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives H-232, The Capitol H-329, The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515 Dear Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi: As the 114th Congress begins its work to enact the fiscal priorities of the United States, we urge you to work in a bi-partisan, bi-cameral fashion to secure full funding for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for fiscal year (FY) 2016 and beyond. Without the certainty of full funding for the PILT program, counties throughout our districts and across the nation will be unable to provide our constituents with essential services such as education, law enforcement, search and rescue, road maintenance and public health. While it must be Congress’ ultimate goal to enact a long-term, sustainable solution to eliminate the ongoing uncertainty counties face, full-funding in FY16 for the PILT program is essential to provide our counties with the certainty they need to plan their own 2016 budgets. PILT provides payments to local governments in 49 states and nearly 1,900 counties to offset foregone revenue due to tax-exempt federal lands within their jurisdictions. Current discretionary appropriations for PILT are set to expire on September 30, 2015. Without congressional action, we risk severely crippling counties’ ability to operate and provide essential services to our constituents. Full funding of the PILT program will enable the federal government to meet its long-standing obligations to counties with federal land within their jurisdictions. It is imperative that we fulfill this obligation. We thank you for your consideration of this request and stand ready to work with you going forward. Sincerely, CHRIS STEWART JARED POLIS Member of Congress Member of Congress SEAN DUFFY ANN KIRKPATRICK Member of Congress Member of Congress Staff Contacts Rep. Stewart: Tim Robison, 202.225.9730, [email protected]; Rep. Polis: Jennifer George-Nichol, 202.225 2161, [email protected]; Rep. Duffy: Bobby Hamill, 202.225.3365, [email protected]; Rep. Kirkpatrick: Ken Montoya, 202.225.3361, [email protected] Congressional Cosigners as of March 16, 2015 Member Name State District Member Name State District Don Young AK AL Ben Ray Lujan NM 3 Mike Rogers AL 3 Dina Titus NV 1 Robert Aderholt AL 4 Mark E. Amodei NV 2 Ann Kirkpatrick AZ 1 Chris Gibson NY 19 Paul A. Gosar AZ 4 Jeff Duncan SC 3 Ruben Gallego AZ 7 Phil Roe, M.D. TN 1 Kyrsten Sinema AZ 9 John Duncan, Jr. TN 2 Doug LaMalfa CA 1 Louie Gohmert TX 1 Jared Huffman CA 2 Will Hurd TX 23 John Garamendi CA 3 Chris Stewart UT 2 John Garamendi CA 3 Jason Chaffetz UT 3 Tom McClintock CA 4 Stacey Plaskett VI AL Mike Thompson CA 5 Peter Welch VT AL Paul Cook CA 8 Suzan DelBene WA 1 Jim Costa CA 15 Dan Newhouse WA 4 Lois Capps CA 24 Cathy McMorris Rodgers WA 5 Julia Brownley CA 26 Derek Kilmer WA 6 Norma Torres CA 35 Dave Reichert WA 8 Raul Ruiz CA 36 Sean Duffy WI 7 Mark Takano CA 41 Cynthia Lummis WY AL Juan Vargas CA 51 Scott Peters CA 52 Diana DeGette CO 1 Jared Polis CO 2 Scott R. Tipton CO 3 Doug Lamborn CO 5 Frederica Wilson FL 24 Mario Diaz-Balart FL 25 Carlos Curbelo FL 26 Earl Carter GA 1 Michael Simpson ID 2 Andy Barr KY 6 Ralph Abraham, MD LA 5 Dan Benishek, M.D. MI 1 Brenda Lawrence MI 14 Rick Nolan MN 8 Ryan Zinke MT AL G.K. Butterfield NC 1 Walter B. Jones NC 3 Mark Meadows NC 11 Ann McLane Kuster NH 2 Michelle Lujan Grisham NM 1 .