Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson today supported final passage of the Fiscal Year 2015 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill, which passed the House 229 to 192. The bill included Simpson’s language increasing truck weights on Idaho Interstates Highways to 129,000 pounds. The increase, above the current allowance of 105,500 pounds, puts Idaho in line with neighboring states and with Idaho’s state highway system, which already allows 129,000 pound trucks. The language com... Read more

The House Appropriations Committee today released the fiscal year 2015 Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. The legislation provides annual funding for national defense nuclear weapons activities, the Army Corps of Engineers, various programs under the Department of Energy, and other related agencies. The bill totals $34 billion – a $50 million reduction from the fiscal year 2014 enacted level and an increase o... Read more

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson’s language to include fresh potatoes in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program passed the House Appropriations Committee today. The language was included in the Fiscal Year 2015 House Agriculture Appropriations bill which passed 31-18. Simpson is a member of the committee and voted in favor of the bill. Congressman Simpson’s language allows states to include fresh, white potatoes in the WIC nutrition program administered by the U.S. Department of ... Read more

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson joined a majority of Congress in sending a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expressing concerns with and strong opposition to the proposed rule re-defining the power of the federal government under the Clean Water Act. The letter raises a number of serious flaws with the rule and asks the agencies to withdraw it. The letter states that the rule “would assert Clean Water Act jurisdiction over nearly all areas with an... Read more

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, a new member of the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee, has secured language in the Fiscal Year 2015 THUD Bill to allow trucks weighing up to 129,000 pounds on Idaho Interstates. This increase, up from the current allowance of 105,500 pounds, would put Idaho in line with neighboring states and with Idaho’s state highways, which currently allow trucks up to 129,000 pounds. This language comes after completion of a... Read more

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson today voted in favor of H.R. 4486, the Fiscal Year 2015 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill. The annual funding bill, which funds the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), included an increase of $1.5 billion for veterans programs in FY15. “This bill includes the necessary funding that our veterans have earned through their service and commitment to protecting our freedoms,” said Congressman Simpson. “The bill fulfills our moral and legal ... Read more

Pushes federal government to meet obligations to states and counties Read more

Simpson joins colleagues in plan to cut spending and reform mandatory spending programs Read more

“Anyone who believed when wolves were reintroduced that we weren’t going to have to actively manage these species was living in a fantasy world.” – Congressman Mike Simpson Read more

Idaho Congressman Simpson today supported H.R. 2575, legislation to eliminate the language in Obamacare defining a full-time worker as someone who works more than 30-hours per week. The bill passed the House with a vote of 248 to 197. Congressman Simpson was a cosponsor of this legislation. The 30-hour work week language in Obamacare was apparently intended to prevent employers from skirting the employer mandate which says any company with more than 50 full-time workers must offer health insura... Read more