Labrador discusses public lands

COEUR d'ALENE — First District Congressman Raul Labrador made a sweep through Coeur d'Alene Thursday to discuss public lands and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

Labrador is currently working to pass HR 2316, which would create a pilot project that gives states and counties more of a say in the management of no more than 2 percent of the national forests in the West.

“We are getting really good reception to the bill,” Labrador said.

Labrador said the idea for the bill came from meeting with county commissioners in Idaho, who are frustrated with having to go to the federal government year after year looking for Payment In Lieu of Taxes, or PILT, payments to replace the revenue they used to get from logging on federal forest lands.

“They are looking for ways to make money from the natural resources they have in their counties like they used to do,” he said. “Some of the richest counties in Idaho used to be these northern counties some of these smaller counties used to be richer than Ada County.”

Labrador said when he was first elected he sat down with a group of county commissioners, who presented the issue as a problem. He said he has introduced the Self-Sufficient Community Lands Act every year since he has been in office.

“It has already passed the House twice now,” Labrador said. “I think, with the right leadership, we can probably get it through the Senate.”

The only negative Labrador said he is getting is from the people who are misrepresenting what the bill does. He said there is a group of people saying the bill is designed to sell off the federal lands.

“There are two lies that they are telling people. A group of people are saying we want to sell off our federal lands and there is no truth to that at all,” he said. “And No. 2 they say that we are going to take away the treasures of Idaho.”

Labrador said the bill specifically exempts national monuments and parks.

Labrador said the thrust of the bill is to create a pilot project where not more than four million acres of the 196 million acres of federal land can be managed by the states, with the exception of fire management.

The congressman said all of the data irrefutably shows Idaho's forest lands are much healthier than the federal lands in Idaho.

Labrador said the local people managing the federal forests in Idaho are trying to do a good job, but their hands are tied with federal regulations and lawsuits.

Labrador's bill would transfer the management of some federal lands into the state's timber management practices, where some of the cumbersome federal regulations no longer apply.

“That's the entire point of this bill,” Labrador said.

Labrador said he fully expects his opponents to challenge the ability of the federal government to transfer the land management to the states, but he thinks the law would survive that challenge.

Some Idaho counties are 80 percent federal land, and 64 percent of Idaho land is under federal control, Labrador said.

Labrador also had some thoughts on the presidential race, saying if Donald Trump wins the nomination he will work with him just like he would work with any other president or governor he has worked with.

He said he is diametrically opposed to most of the president's initiatives, but they have found common ground on a couple of issues such as immigration reform.

As a firm supporter of Ted Cruz, Labrador said he hopes Trump is not elected president.

“And I think this is where we have to be really careful as Republicans,” Labrador said. “We created Donald Trump. The Republican Party continued to make promises to get elected and did something else after they got elected.

Labrador said the establishment started running campaign ads against them for not voting with the party on certain issues.

“They are the ones who created Donald Trump,” he said, explaining how Trump is taking advantage of the 65 percent of Republicans who feel “betrayed” by the party. Think about that word. It's not disappointed, it's not mad, it's not let down,” Labrador said. “It is betrayed. When somebody betrays you, how do you feel? That is a huge word — 65 percent of the Republican Party feel betrayed.”

He said the Republican Party needs to play by the rules because if a few party leaders decide they are going to change the rules to get Congressman Paul Ryan nominated, it would mean the end of the Republican Party.