Oregon Public Broadcasting

The U.S. House has put the brakes on a program that subsidizes schools, roads and cops in many Northwest communities.

A four-year extension of the so-called County Payments program passed the Senate Tuesday but was stripped from a bill in the House  Wednesday.

Oregon Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio told The Oregonian newspaper the issue is likely dead until next year.

But Eric Schmidt of the Association of Oregon Counties still has hope.

Eric Schmidt:  “We are not sure of what our future will be at this point.  But I can tell you after spending the last three days working with Congressional offices that county payments is out not out of the equation yet.”

The federal government had been subsidizing local governments to make up for falling revenue from timber sales on federal land.

When the money ran out earlier this year, many county governments laid off dozens of employees and scaled back public services.