mr. chairman , i thank the gentlewoman from wyoming for yielding me this time . 
mr. chairman , i rise in support of the pending amendment , and i commend the gentlewoman from wyoming for her leadership on this issue , as well as the gentleman from colorado ( mr. udall ) xz4004121 and the gentleman from utah ( mr. cannon ) xz4000590 . 
it is always a pleasure for me to team up with these distinguished colleagues , and especially my friend from wyoming ( mrs. cubin ) xz4000880 , on natural resource issues of importance to both of our states . 
it is true that we are sometimes at odds with each other , that is never a pleasant experience , but when we do see eye to eye , we can make some inroads . 
today i find myself the token easterner on the bipartisan cubin-rahall-cannon-udall amendment to restore a portion of authorized funding for the pilt program . 
i chose to sponsor this amendment to make a point . 
pilt is as important in the east as it is to the west . 
west virginia , for instance , is heavily forested and 919 , 000 acres are federally owned with the monongahela national forest . 
pilt payments are extremely important to the forest counties , helping them to provide essential services to the public . 
this amendment is about keeping faith with our units of local government who are already being strained to the limit . 
under the pilt program , the deal is that the federal government will compensate these localities for the loss of local tax revenues from federal lands . 
i urge support for the amendment . 
