Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, in a letter to the White House, is urging the President to personally intervene in an effort to stop an Office of Management and Budget plan to gut the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Program in its Fiscal Year 2011 budget – with the States of Tennessee and Idaho taking the biggest hit. The Environmental Management Program funds environmental remediation efforts at nuclear energy sites like the Idaho National Laboratory. Read more »

“As elected officials, we are here to represent the best interests of the American public. It is only right that we are ALL informed about negotiations to a bill that will fundamentally change our healthcare system,” said Simpson. “If this bill is really what the American people want, as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would like us to believe, then why keep it a secret?” Read more »

“As you prepare to attend the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen, we caution you against pursuing environmental policies that will undermine job creation in our already fragile economy,” Simpson and Lewis wrote. “We are particularly concerned about efforts to address climate change that circumvent the legislative process, are not grounded unequivocally in sound science, and don’t reflect majority public opinion in the United States. Recent events suggest that this is precisely the course your Administration is pursuing with regard to greenhouse gas policy.” Read more »

“While Idaho families are struggling to make ends meet and one in ten Americans is out of work, the Democrats have been doing everything they can to kill jobs by imposing greater tax and regulatory burdens on our nation’s job creators,” said Simpson. “Businesses in Idaho have told me that they cannot afford to invest in job creation while Congress is debating costly and expensive healthcare reform, cap and trade, and other sweeping and burdensome regulatory reforms that will make it even more difficult for them to survive. Apparently the Democrats don’t realize the key connection between jobs and those who create them. Rather than looking for real solutions to our nation’s economic crisis, they are simply pouring money into old, failed policies.” Read more »

“Republicans insisted that TARP include a number of taxpayer protections, including a requirement that any repaid funds be returned to the taxpayer to pay down the federal debt,” said Simpson. “Obviously those protections were necessary—now that companies are paying back the TARP payments they received and the taxpayer is making billions of dollars in interest, the Democrats are trying to turn the program from a one-time emergency measure to a permanent slush fund for growing government.” Read more »

“We all know teachers who buy extra supplies to use in their classroom, supplies that enhance learning and aid in the development of our youth,” Simpson said. “Allowing teachers to write off this additional expense makes sense and it is simply the right thing to do.” Read more »

“I’m deeply concerned that this legislation would give the federal government such a broad reach that it would significantly restrict farmers’ and ranchers’ ability to make decisions about their own property and threaten Idaho’s control over state water rights,” said Simpson. “The Clean Water Restoration Act is a big government land grab, pure and simple, and it is being forced on the agriculture community by people who don’t know the first thing about crops or cows.” Read more »

“The bottom line is that H.R. 4154 would impose higher taxes on Idaho’s farmers, ranchers, and small businesses. In the best of times I can’t support increasing taxes on Idaho families, but at a time when unemployment is in the double digits, imposing a greater tax burden on our nation’s job creators is utterly irresponsible,” said Simpson. Read more »

“First and foremost, we must support our troops,” said Simpson. “I am grateful that President Obama has finally made a decision about the Afghanistan troop surge. It appears remarkably similar to former President Bush’s decision to implement the troop surge in Iraq; a strategy that has ultimately brought us closer to victory and allowing our troops to return home." Read more »

While Americans struggle to pay bills and keep food on the table, the Obama Administration and the Democrats in Congress continue to spend as if there were not record debts already on the books. While American jobs disintegrate they are working to ensure Khalid Sheikh Mohammed does not have his constitutional rights violated, and they continue to push a trillion-dollar plus health care government take-over and a cap-and-trade bill that will only further hamstring our economy. Read more »