There's still time to weigh in on the Bush administration's proposal to sell off 300,000 acres of national forest land to fund rural schools. The public comment period has been extended, and meanwhile two Western senators have come up with a plan they say funds the schools without selling off public lands.

Democrats Max Baucus of Montana and Ron Wyden of Oregon proposed cutting a tax loophole that lets some government contractors avoid paying taxes. Closing this loophole would bring in $2.6 billion over the next decade, the senators say, more than tripling the amount expected to come from the public land sale.