George Radanovich

Mr. RADANOVICH

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Fresno Compact for being awarded a ``1999 Distinguished Performance Award,'' by the National Alliance of Business (NAB). This award designates Fresno Compact as the number one local business-education coalition in the United States for 1999. Fresno Compact is a broad-based coalition of leaders from business and education, whose focuses are to improve student achievement and to bring business leaders and educators together. The Compact helps coordinate such programs as the high school ``employment Competency Certification'' and the Chamber of Commerce's business partnership programs. It also participates in school-to-career activities of the State Center Consortium and works with the Business Education Committee. Fresno Compact began its alliance more than ten years ago. It focuses on influencing educators to provide teaching that better prepares students for the workforce. According to NAB President Robert Jones, Fresno Compact is a ``catalyst that focuses the attention of Central California business, education and political leaders on long-term, cooperative programs that are designed to raise student achievement levels and provide skills needed by local employers.'' Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Fresno Compact for being awarded the ``Local Coalition of the Year'' award. I urge my colleagues to join me in wishing Fresno Compact many more years of continued success.

Mr. RADANOVICH

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Maestro Raffi Armenian on the occasion of his visit to Fresno, on April 15, 2000. I want to welcome Maestro Raffi Armenian to the Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church, where he will conduct Verdi's ``II Trovatore'', featuring Fresno's Edna Garabedian in the role of Azucina. The people of Fresno are happy to have the chance to see Maestro Raffi Armenian conduct. Maestro Armenian's passion for the human voice has manifested itself with conduction appearances at such illustrious companies as the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, the Michigan Opera Theater, L' Opera de Montreal, Opera Hamilton, and Opera Columbus. While living and working in Canada, Maestro Armenian garnered numerous awards for his work including an Emmy Award for Menotti's ``The Medium'', a Juno nomination for a recording a Ravel and Schoenberg with Maureen Forrester and the Canadian Chamber Ensemble. Over the years he has composed some twenty-four albums. Mr. Speaker, I want to honor Maestro Raffi Armenian, as he visits Fresno. I urge my colleagues to join me in wishing Maestro Raffi Armenian many more years of continued success.

Mr. RADANOVICH

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me and allowing me to speak on this important resolution before the House today. On June 15 of this year, I introduced House Concurrent Resolution 251, commending the Republic of Croatia for the successful conduct of its parliamentary and presidential elections. The free and fair elections in Croatia and the beautiful and orderly transfer of power from the old to the new government is an example of democracy to the people of other nations in the region, and a major contribution to the democratic development of Southeastern Europe. President Mesic has pledged to bring his country into the European Union in 5 years. Even if this is an ambitious goal, he is to be commended. President Mesic has promised and has in fact undertaken concrete steps to end interference in Bosnia, to welcome returning Serb refugees, and to cooperate with the international court in pursuing alleged Croatian war criminals. He has also promised further privatization and media reform. Although president Mesic and his new government face many many difficulties, I am very optimistic that Croatia is on a new path. I am hopeful we will do our utmost to encourage them on this path. My resolution also calls for U.S. support and facilitation of Croatia's goals for membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace program and its accession to the World Trade Organization. I firmly believe that by supporting Croatia's membership in PfP and its accession to the WTO, we will not only be making a sound investment in the future security of Southeast Europe, but we will also be sending a clear message to other countries in the region of the benefits that come from choosing a democratic path. Croatia was a tremendous ally to us last year during the Kosovo conflict, and as far as I am concerned, they have more than demonstrated their loyalty to the United States. In my opinion, their membership in the Partnership for Peace program has already been earned and is long overdue. There is no question that we need a trustworthy ally in Southeast Europe, where we have spent an exorbitant amount of time and money. Croatia is that trustworthy ally, and I want to honor this country, its leaders, and its people here today. I believe this is a very important resolution, and I urge my colleagues to vote favorably.

Mr. RADANOVICH

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will continue to yield, we will have more money than we will now, but under this program, they are creating seven new mandatory programs and fully funding them when we have an unfunded PILT program that even under this bill will not be funded.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, as I understand it, the historical commitment or the all-time high was $135 million. That times two is not quite $300 million. The obligation to PILT is $320 million. There is no chance that it is subject to full funding under this type of scenario because, under CARA, what was appropriated would be matched.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. RADANOVICH. The problem is that you provide no assurance that these PILT obligations are going to be met. Then you are wildly increasing funding for more of the same programs.

Mr. RADANOVICH. If the gentleman will yield, it does not give this Congress the right to further fund programs that are causing further harm to rural America without giving them any further assurance that their problems are going to be solved.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, the only point that I want to make is that those who provide services in rural America that are getting blighted by this kind of Federal land purchase dollars deserve the right to have PILT funded on a mandatory basis and not subject to appropriations, just the way these other seven programs that you have created for Federal land purchases in blighting rural communities and putting them all on welfare deserve to have that right, too. So I hope that people will vote for my amendment and make PILT mandatory. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RADANOVICH. May I inquire of the remaining time that I have?

Mr. RADANOVICH. I yield to the gentleman from Alaska.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. My concern, and I represent mainly a rural area of California. About 330,000 acres were just taken up in the Sequoia National Monument, displaced about 100 workers and cost my communities that have about 16 percent unemployment about $8 million in revenues a year. I am concerned about this bill because I do not agree with any further Federal funding being spent on States or counties that have more than 50 percent Federal land ownership, because you are taking tax base revenues away from counties. The problem that I have with CARA is that there are seven new programs being created that require mandatory spending: Coastal impact assistance, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration, Urban Parks and Recreational Recovery, National Historic Preservation Act, Indian lands restoration, farmland protection easements and endangered species recovery. I understand a lot of people think that those programs are good and I see some merit in quite a few of them. But when you are taking away the tax base from small counties that have to provide emergency services at their local levels in rural areas, you are treating rural areas unfairly. That is why I think PILT in this bill and my amendment would make it mandatory. There would not be any question that the obligation, created by PILT was passed by this Congress, would not be met. If you vote to pass my amendment, it means that PILT, those counties that provide all of the services for the local people in the rural areas would be included in this preferential category of mandatory spending. It would fully fund that $320 million obligation annually, would not subject it to the whims of the Congress through the Committee on Appropriations. If it is good enough for environmental measures, it is good enough for those that guard and protect and enhance human life in small rural counties. For that, I hope that people will support this amendment and vote it in. Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Idaho (Mrs. Chenoweth-Hage).

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment that would fully fund the PILT program, which is called payments in lieu of taxes, and the Fish and Wildlife Services Refuge Revenue Sharing Program. Each year we debate PILT on the floor during this appropriations time. The administration never requests full funding and the Committee on Appropriations is unable to fully fund PILT within the budget. We then see an amendment on the floor to increase funding, usually at the expense of energy research, and it always passes. Last year's amendment to increase PILT by $20 million passed on a vote of 248 to 169. Mr. Chairman, it is time we end the appropriations game and make the Federal Government live up to its promises through PILT. In 1976, we passed the PILT Act. We did it because Congress recognized local governments must provide essential services on our Federal lands, but they get no tax revenues from them. Local governments provide emergency medical care, search and rescue, police, fire protection, road maintenance, garbage removal and a host of other essential services. Local taxpayers pay the full cost of these services, but the benefits go to all the visitors on our Federal lands. Congress recognized this when the PILT was created, and Congress recognized it again in 1994 when we passed amendments to PILT. That year, it was necessary to update the formula to account for inflation and population changes. The House passed that bill on a voice vote, and President Clinton signed it on October 22, 1994. Today that formula promises $320 million in PILT payments to local governments, but we continue to fund it at only $135 million. Mr. Chairman, before coming to Congress, I served as a county supervisor for Mariposa County, California, and almost 50 percent of this county is owned by the Federal Government. Mariposa is the home of Yosemite National Park and parts of the Sierra and Stanislaus National Forest. None of that Federal land is in our tax base, none of the economic activity on that land is taxable in our county. Still our small communities, my hometown, by the way, has fewer than 2,000 people, provide all the basic services for more than 4 million visitors that visit Yosemite every year. PILT recognizes that the Federal Government has an obligation to contribute to these services. This amendment would fund that obligation. It is relevant that today we are debating a bill that would create $2.85 billion in mandatory spending. That money will go to Federal land-related purposes. It mandates spending on new public land purchases, but what is not mandatory in this bill, and should be, is PILT. Mr. Chairman, what is more mandatory than our tax obligation to local governments? Especially when the money goes to help support services like search and rescue, emergency medical, fire and sheriffs, all to the benefit of visitors on our Federal lands, ensuring full funding of PILT would be a big improvement to this bill. It will uphold our obligations to counties and local communities before we provide mandatory spending for new programs, particularly for programs that remove land from our local tax base. This amendment would fund PILT. I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson).

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, it is still subject under the appropriations.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, I ask the gentleman, why does he not join me in adding PILT to the other seven mandatory programs?

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, let us make PILT mandatory. The $320 million obligation, why do not my colleagues join me in this amendment and make it fully mandatory like they have made seven other new programs that are created by this bill mandatory spending? This is an unfunded obligation.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman from California will continue to yield, what concerns me is, then let us make PILT mandatory.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, but it is still subject to appropriations when seven new programs are put under mandatory spending.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, CARA creates seven new programs that are mandatory programs that will be fully funded, while PILT is not included in that.

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, but there are seven new programs that are created that are not subject to appropriations anymore?

Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Chairman, I ask the gentleman, still subject to appropriations, though?