Yesterday, I opposed the health care reconciliation bill that came before the House Budget Committee.  Last night’s late-night markup was the very first step in the health care reconciliation process, which will allow Senate Democrats to pass the bill with only 51 votes, rather than 60. Unfortunately, it was not a forum for any minority views to be included, but rather it was just one… Read more »

Noting that Interior’s ruling is now facing a court challenge, the Delegation and Governor said that Secretary Salazar is to be commended for his determination—and he should stand by his decision concerning sage grouse. “We need to ensure that our collective attention to this important issue does not wane or is overshadowed by inaction in the coming months,” the Idahoans wrote. Read more »

“Right now, Speaker Pelosi and her Democrats are busy trying to ram health reform legislation through the House of Representatives against the will of the American people. This bill will raise your taxes, create a massive new entitlement program and do little to address the problems in our current health system. The frightening reality for the American taxpayer and anyone who will need… Read more »

“Unfortunately,” Congressman Simpson said, “the Budget Committee today started the health care reconciliation process with a partisan and largely ceremonial markup vote. This procedural maneuver will allow Democrats, now without enough votes to pass the bill in regular order, to pass it with only 50 votes in the Senate, rather than the 60 normally required for controversial pieces of legislation.” Read more »

During the hearing, Simpson asked Director Abbey what the BLM is doing to address the significant backlog in grazing permits. Last week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that sage-grouse is “warranted but precluded” from listing under the Endangered Species Act. Simpson expressed his concern that this decision would put an additional burden on the BLM, which is responsible for managing most of the current sage-grouse habitat, without providing additional resources for the agency to address its current backlog. Read more »

“We’re not talking here about trying to reduce arsenic from 100 parts per billion to ten, we’re talking about communities having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce it by two parts per billion. It should be up to rural communities to determine if twelve parts per billion is acceptable for their drinking water, or if they should tax people out of their homes in order to try to obtain EPA’s arsenic standard of ten parts per billion,” said Simpson. “Nobody cares more about the safety of a community’s drinking water, or is more eager to do the right thing to protect it, than the people who live, work and raise families there.” Read more »

“As the recession continues and unemployment stubbornly holds near the double digits, we must not forget about the vital contribution school teachers make to our nation. There are two pieces of legislation that I hope will come before the House of Representatives this session that will make targeted and effective changes to current law in support of teachers. I am urging my colleagues to… Read more »

“Unfortunately, my fears about this summit were realized: rather than a substantive discussion about health care reform, the President’s summit was just for show,” said Congressman Mike Simpson. “It seems the Democrats were more interested in selling the American people the bills they have supported in the House and Senate rather than working together to accomplish health care reform that we can all agree on.” Read more »

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson today shared an Idaho perspective when Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell testified at the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee regarding the FY2011 Forest Service Budget request. Simpson is Ranking Member of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the Forest Service. Read more »

“One thing I heard time and time again when I was home was the dramatic impact EPA is having on Idaho communities,” said Simpson.  “Mayors throughout our state are at their wit’s end trying to meet EPA’s standards under the Clean Water Act and are forced to make difficult and even impossible budget decisions to do so.  Some cities are so frustrated that they are prepared to hand EPA the keys to the city.  No agency should have this kind of control over local governments.” Read more »