Oregon Public Broadcasting

The 36 counties in Oregon are drafting next year's budgets, staring at a July 1st deadline. But those budgets don't include federal timber payments.

A one-year extension to the county payments plan passed the Senate Thursday, but is far from something rural counties can count on, as Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports.

The one-year deal, backed by Democrat Ron Wyden and Republican Gordon Smith, sailed through the Senate attached to the $160 billion war spending bill.

But as is, the legislation faces opposition from House Republicans - and the President has threatened to veto any military bill that includes non-military items, like county payments.

Still, the Senate did approve the measure by a veto-proof majority.

Coming at it from another direction, Democratic Congressman Peter Defazio also got the House of Representatives to schedule, in early June, a vote on a more expensive, four-year extension.

Rep. Peter Defazio: “Both Senator Wyden and I are at the hail mary pass play time here. If we could get the one-year funding and get past a presidential veto, that would allow us to live until we have a new president.”

Defazio says the Oregon delegation is working on two tracks because time is short.