mr. chairman , as the members know , the payments in lieu of taxes program , or pilt as it is called , compensates units of general government for property taxes that they otherwise lose due to federal ownership of the land within that locality . 
our local counties then use these dollars to help fund essential services such as law enforcement , health care , education , firefighting , and search and rescue . 
unfortunately , despite the local benefits to this program in all 50 states , a large majority of the congressional districts ' full funding of pilt , as is authorized by law , is simply not a commitment that this congress has been willing to meet in the past years . 
my home state of wyoming has been denied over $ 75 million in pilt funding over the past 10 years that would have been used to make our communities safer , healthier , and cleaner . 
i truly appreciate the efforts of the gentleman from north carolina ( chairman taylor ) and the gentleman from washington ( mr. dicks ) xz4001090 , ranking member , to restore the pilt funding that the administration tried to cut . 
they even went a step further to show their support of pilt and added an additional $ 3 million over last year 's level . 
however , this level funding still falls far short of the authorized level and it simply is not enough for these communities . 
the cubin-rahall-cannon-udall amendment would add $ 12 million to pilt by redirecting funds from the department of interior 's management , salaries , and expenses at the higher levels . 
our amendment still does not bring pilt to full funding , but it would reflect a renewed commitment of congress to do so by providing approximately 80 percent of the authorized level for this year 's funding . 
it is also important to emphasize that this amendment still allows the department of interior to spend $ 10 million more for administrative costs than they did in 2005 . 
we are not cutting salaries . 
we are simply reducing the $ 23 million increase that they would receive under this bill and instead directing a portion of those funds back to local counties where every dollar will make a real difference on the ground where people live and where they work . 
so i would like to thank the gentleman from utah ( mr. cannon ) xz4000590 , the gentleman from west virginia ( mr. rahall ) xz4003310 , and the gentleman from colorado ( mr. udall ) xz4004131 for co-sponsoring this amendment , as well as the national association of counties , the gentleman from arizona ( mr. flake ) xz4001340 , and other members of the western caucus for the leadership that they have shown on this issue . 
it is very important to every single state in the country . 
shortchanging local communities by underfunding pilt is simply bad policy , and i hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this amendment . 
