Don't hold a fire sale for rural counties

Don't hold a fire sale for rural counties: "Don't hold a fire sale for rural counties
Congress must find a way to supply rural county and school aid without selling off public lands
Saturday, February 18, 2006

T he Bush administration's plan to sell off public lands to temporarily fund aid to counties and schools would leave both the U.S. Forest Service and rural counties weaker than they are today.

The administration has compiled a list of more than 300,000 acres of federal land that it might put on the auction block. It wants to use proceeds from the sales, an estimated $800 million, as a source of funding for reduced federal aid to rural counties and schools."