{"id":25547,"date":"2026-10-01T11:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T15:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=25547"},"modified":"2026-10-01T11:48:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T15:48:21","slug":"wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington DC<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both D-Ore., today were joined by their colleagues Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both R-Idaho, in introducing legislation that would extend funding for the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program for three years, and clarify congressional intention for distribution of funding for counties in Oregon with Bureau of Land Management lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding for the program expired yesterday, September 30, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cSecure Rural Schools is a lifeline for rural Oregon<\/strong>,\u201d Wyden said. \u201cI\u2019ll be working as hard as I can to get this bill across the finish line, but the well-being of rural America shouldn\u2019t be dependent on Congress getting its act together to renew this funding every few years. It\u2019s past time to get rural communities off the financial rollercoaster and deliver a permanent funding solution<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe SRS program provides crucial payments that are a lifeline for rural communities here in Oregon and across America\u2014keeping schools open, maintaining roads, restoring watersheds, and providing funding for police officers and firefighters to keep families safe<\/strong>,\u201d said Merkley.  \u201cA three-year extension of the program and these common-sense updates are critical to ensuring the federal government upholds its promise to our communities and that local governments can reliably access these important resources<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Wyden co-authored the SRS law in 2000, and it has brought nearly $4 billion to Oregon counties since then. Funding for the program lapsed in September 2023 and resumed two years later in September 2025, depriving rural counties across the country of critical funding for schools, law enforcement, and infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legislative text of the three-year extension is aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legislative text of the clarification act is aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both D-Ore., today were joined by their colleagues Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both R-Idaho, in introducing legislation that would extend funding for the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program for three years, and clarify congressional intention for distribution of funding for counties in Oregon with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":24863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[118,40,36],"class_list":["post-25547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-delivering-for-oregon","tag-education","tag-natural-resources-and-rural-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both D-Ore., today were joined by their colleagues Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both R-Idaho, in introducing legislation that would extend funding for the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program for three years, and clarify congressional intention for distribution of funding for counties in Oregon with […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-01T15:48:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-01T15:48:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kelly Park\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelly Park\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kelly Park\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08\"},\"headline\":\"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-01T15:48:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-01T15:48:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/\"},\"wordCount\":284,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Delivering for Oregon\",\"Education\",\"Natural Resources and Rural Development\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Press Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/\",\"name\":\"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding - Merkley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-01T15:48:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-01T15:48:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Senator Merkley at a Senate hearing.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley\",\"description\":\"Merkley\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08\",\"name\":\"Kelly Park\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kelly Park\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/kelly-park\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding - Merkley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding - Merkley","og_description":"Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both D-Ore., today were joined by their colleagues Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both R-Idaho, in introducing legislation that would extend funding for the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program for three years, and clarify congressional intention for distribution of funding for counties in Oregon with […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/","og_site_name":"Merkley","article_published_time":"2026-10-01T15:48:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-01T15:48:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kelly Park","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kelly Park","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/"},"author":{"name":"Kelly Park","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08"},"headline":"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding","datePublished":"2026-10-01T15:48:20+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-01T15:48:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/"},"wordCount":284,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png","keywords":["Delivering for Oregon","Education","Natural Resources and Rural Development"],"articleSection":["Press Releases"],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/","name":"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding - Merkley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png","datePublished":"2026-10-01T15:48:20+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-01T15:48:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-MX","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-MX","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026_Press-Release-Photo_5.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Senator Merkley at a Senate hearing."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-extend-secure-rural-schools-funding\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Extend Secure Rural Schools Funding"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/","name":"merkley","description":"merkley","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08","name":"Kelly Park","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-MX","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kelly Park"},"url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/kelly-park\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25548,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25547\/revisions\/25548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}