U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) touted legislative wins for Oregon after the House passed government funding legislation through the end of the fiscal year.
Included in the legislation was the Rural Act, one of the provisions built in to help rural Oregon communities flourish. Walden co-sponsored the Rural Act, which would help keep electric costs affordable and expand access to broadband in rural Oregon.
“Our rural electric cooperatives should not get punished when they receive broadband build out grants or emergency recovery funding,” said Walden. “Yet, because of a drafting error in prior legislation, that’s precisely what would happen. It is not an overstatement to say this fix is essential to their survival.”
The 2020 spending bills also provided full funding for Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, which supports essential services, like forest management, in Oregon.
“Full funding for PILT keeps an important commitment to rural counties in Oregon,” said Walden on the full funding of PILT. “The federal government controls a majority of the land in our district and these funds help to make up for lost property tax revenue and help counties provide basic services such as roads and law enforcement.”
Walden recently introduced the Lower Costs, More Cures Act, which would help lower the prices of prescription drugs. A piece of his legislation, the CREATES Act, was included as a provision in the 2020 spending bills. The provision would help increase access to affordable prescription drugs by stopping pharmaceutical companies from blocking access to affordable drugs for patients.
“The passage of the CREATES Act puts an end to a scam where pharmaceutical companies deny samples to generic drug competitors. This measure will help improve access to affordable prescription drugs for Oregonians,” said Walden on the passage of the CREATES Act.
In addition to including the CREATES Act, the spending bills also included provisions to increase access to affordable insulin.
“Today, the House made some progress to fund the government, but we also provided support for our rural communities, our military and America’s veterans,” said Walden.
