Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden hand-delivered a giant Harry and David’s gift basket to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and a case of wine each to the two Senate chairmen who played key roles in helping him win a four-year reauthorization of the county timber payments program. All of the Oregon products Wyden chose came from counties that had been facing extraordinary hardship prior to the passage of the Wyden-Reid-Bingaman-Baucus county payments legislation a few weeks earlier.

The gifts sent to Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) included wine from Lane, Douglas, Clackamas, Marion and other counties that receive county timber payments, as well and fruit and cheese from across the Rogue Valley.

“In addition to saying ‘thank you,’ for sticking with me and all of Oregon’s rural counties, these fine Oregon products are a small way of reminding them of the people and way of life they are helping to preserve,” said Wyden. 

Wyden originally introduced the legislation that recently passed back in March of 2007 with Majority Leader Reid, Senator Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Bingaman who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  Together, they passed their bill twice in the Senate only to have it rejected twice by President Bush and the House of Representatives.  At Wyden’s request, Reid included his county payments legislation in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 passed by Congress earlier this month.