Washington, D.C. – Alaskan Congressman Don Young voted against a Democrat tax bill, H.R. 7060, this morning that stripped language to provide a four year extension on the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Act. In yet another example of House Democrats playing partisan politics with the well-being of this nation’s citizens, House Majority Leadership went against strong bipartisan Senate support and the Administration in favor of election year posturing on a bill that is now dead in the water.

On September 23, 2008 the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 6049 with overwhelming bi-partisan support. This bill included two very important provisions for Alaska: an Exxon Valdez income averaging provision that would allow Exxon Valdez plaintiffs to use three year income averaging and up to a $100,000 one time IRA deposit with their settlements; and the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Act reauthorization, which aids in education programs by using federal fees collected from commercial timber harvesting for local school districts located in national forests. Additionally, the Senate bill would have provided tax relief to American families struggling to deal with the Democrats’ "tax-everything" policies. Rep. Young voted yes on a Motion to Recommit the bill back to the House Committee on Ways and Means however, due to party line voting by the Majority, this motion failed.

"This Congress has been example after example of party politics," said Rep. Young. "I’m curious as to when the Democrat Majority is going to realize that what’s good for the country is coming together in a bi-partisan compromise to find a solution, not this divisiveness. Secure Rural Schools is a very important provision for Alaska and for every other rural area of this country where extreme environmentalists have killed the timber industry. The Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee represents a big city, so naturally he doesn’t know what difficulties rural schools face on a day to day basis. But if he is going to chair a Committee that dictates what’s good for the country, he had better start doing some research on what schools in rural Alaska and other parts of this country are facing. I will not vote for a bill that is harmful to the State of Alaska and this bill is."

This bill passed by a vote of 257-166.