President Trump Acknowledges Importance of Crapo’s Push for Secure Rural Schools

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senator for Idaho Mike Crapo today joined President Donald Trump, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Oval Office to highlight initiatives of importance to rural America, including the recent Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program reauthorization. During the event, Crapo spoke on the need for a permanent solution for SRS funding to provide more certainty to rural county governments and schools that rely on the program. The President also signed into law the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which Crapo co-sponsored.

To view the statements from Senator Crapo, President Trump and Secretary Rollins, click HERE or the image above.

On the need for a long-term solution for rural, forested counties:

"This is critical legislation to our rural communities across this country, and we have to fight every couple of years to get it [SRS funding] extended just a couple more years. This extension we got this year, went back to pick up a few years that we missed and is going to expire again at the end of the year. I am going to encourage us to get back in here [Oval Office] to sign a Secure Rural Schools bill that is permanent… I hope that you will set a goal with me to get that done."

Crapo led passage of SRS reauthorization in the U.S. Senate alongside his colleagues Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon). The late Representative Doug LaMalfa (R-California) and Representative Joe Neguse (D-Colorado) led the bill in the U.S House of Representatives.

President Trump signed the bill into law December 18, 2025, which reauthorized the program through Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 and provided lapsed payments for FYs 2024 and 2025.

Background on the SRS program:

• Congress first authorized the first SRS program in 2000 with enactment of the SRS and Community Self-Determination Act.
• This legislation specifically assists counties containing tracts of federally owned forest land that are tax-exempt.
• The program provides payments to county governments in areas where those forests are located because counties do not receive tax revenue from federal land; the payments come through timber receipts and other revenue generating activities within U.S. national forests.
• In Idaho, $22.8 million was distributed across 34 counties to help pay for educational programs, emergency response systems and other services in Fiscal Year 2023.
• Since the program was not reauthorized in 2023, county payments reverted to 1908 timber sharing law, which represents about an 80 percent cut for some counties.

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