Simpson Responds to President’s Budget
Congressman Mike Simpson issued the following statement in response to the release of the president’s budget for FY 2013 last week.

“I will look over the President’s budget request over the next several weeks, and look forward to hearing from Administration officials on the specifics of their proposals.  However, looking over it today I am discouraged that it does not appear to make a serious effort to reduce the debt and keep it at sustainable levels.  We need more debt reduction than the President offers, and we need substantive mandatory spending reform. We need a determined effort from the President to work with Congress to solve this crisis, not budget gimmicks and new spending packages.”

Simpson Questions White House Budget Director over President’s FY13 Budget Proposal
Congressman Mike Simpson, a senior member of the House Budget Committee, last week questioned Acting White House Budget Director Jeffrey Zients regarding President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget blue print, which was released last Monday. 

President Obama’s budget, which was widely panned as a campaign document rather than a serious reform proposal, adds $1.3 trillion to our $15.4 trillion national deficit in 2012.  It marks the fourth consecutive year the President has offered a budget with a deficit at more than $1 trillion.  The largest deficit in history preceding President Obama’s term was $459 billion. The budget also made no substantive proposals to deal with Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, three programs that are expanding rapidly, and are eating up larger and larger chunks of our budget, and need real reform.

Simpson opened his questioning by asking Director Zients why the President wasn’t ready to have a straightforward conversation with Americans about our spending and debt problems. “What the American people want to know is how much we are going to add to our current deficit if we were going to pass this blue print this year…?  How much would (the yearly deficit) be at the end of the ten year cycle…? What will the total deficit be at the end of the ten year cycle, if we adopt the President’s spending plan?”

Director Zients responded, “As to the deficit, I don’t think you want to look at this in nominal dollars. No one thinks a dollar today is worth a dollar tomorrow. I’d rather have the dollar today than tomorrow. So let’s pivot to GDP (gross domestic product) and percentage of GDP.”

Simpson interjected, “Nobody cares about that.  They care about the dollar amount that you are going to create in deficit spending.  Constituents who talk to me don’t say, ‘as a percentage of GDP, what is our debt going to be in ten years?’ They say, “How much are we spending, and how much are we going in debt, and are we becoming Greece? This plan is Greece’s plan.”

Later, Director Zients closed with, “I believe in this country and I believe in our workers and I believe in our competitiveness, and the President’s budget supports that,” to which Simpson replied, “I believe in this country too, and so does everyone in here. I wished the budget matched your rhetoric that you put forward.”

The entirety of Congressman Simpson’s questions can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dmQ9R9K_V4&feature=channel_video_title.

Simpson Holds Hearing on Department of Interior Budget Proposal
In subcommittee hearing, Simpson questions Salazar on PILT, the Department’s national sage-grouse conservation strategy, energy development, and wildland fire funding
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, who chairs the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, last week held his first subcommittee hearing of the year, as Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar testified before the subcommittee regarding the Department of Interior’s FY2013 budget request.  During the hearing, Simpson questioned Salazar on a wide variety of issues, including PILT, the Department’s national sage-grouse conservation strategy, oil and gas exploration and permitting, and wildland fire.

PILT:
Because federal lands may not generally be taxed by state or local governments, the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program was created to compensate local governments for the loss of income due to the presence of federal land in their state or county.  In 2008, PILT was authorized as a mandatory program and fully funded for five years, shifting it out of the Interior budget through September 30, 2012.  The Department proposes to extend the current funding for an additional year, legislation that needs to be taken up by the appropriate authorizing committee, but does not provide a clear offset.

“It’s important to note that, while that authorization expires at the end of this fiscal year, the federal government’s obligation to fund PILT does not,” said Simpson.  “If Congress is unable to reauthorize mandatory spending for PILT in the coming weeks, we are going to have to pay for it out of this budget, and it will require cutting money from the Department’s other priorities.”

Sage-Grouse Conservation:
Simpson also signaled that he will have more questions for the Department and the Bureau of Land Management regarding the impact that the budget will have on grazing throughout the west.  He expressed concern about cuts for grazing programs in the budget proposal and raised the issue of sage-grouse conservation efforts, noting that a decision to list sage-grouse as an endangered species would have huge ramifications across Idaho, devastating land users and undermining BLM’s land management efforts.  The Department included $15 million in its budget for a recently-unveiled BLM national sage-grouse strategy to address sage-grouse conservation.

Wildland Fire:
Simpson also expressed concern about proposals to cut funding for hazardous fuels reduction, as well as a proposal by the Department to re-instate language requiring 90 percent of the funds to be used in the wildland urban interface. 

“Reducing the threat of catastrophic wildfires is always a top priority for Congress and the Department.  Last year, however, the Committee was very concerned about the constraints put on the use of hazardous fuel dollars.  These funds help clear brush and prevent forest and rangeland fires…The problem [with the requirement to spend 90 percent of funds in the wildland urban interface] is that much of the land managed by the Department is not in the wildland urban interface,” said Simpson.  “The FY12 bill specifically directs the Department to remove this requirement and instead allow the agencies to allocate funds based on the highest priority projects in the highest priority areas, and I was dismayed to hear that the Department and OMB are still pursuing this requirement despite the report language.  I hope you will work with me to ensure that we are complying with the FY12 language.”

Energy Development:
Much of the hearing focused on the Department of Interior’s proposals regarding energy development, including both conventional and renewable energy.  Simpson warned that the subcommittee would be holding the Department fully accountable for funding provided in FY11 and FY12 to ensure that permits and plans for oil and gas production can move forward. 

“We’ve hardly scratched the surface in meeting our full potential in oil and gas exploration and production—both onshore and on the outer continental shelf,” said Simpson.  “The [newly created Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement] now have both the funding and the tools you told us they need.  With gas prices on the rise again, the public and Congress will have no patience for more delays.  It’s time for the bureaus to get to work.”

In coming weeks, Chairman Simpson will hold hearings on agency budgets, during which many of these issues will be visited in more detail.

In the News

Simpson presents funds for Minidoka project
Congressman Mike Simpson presents representatives of the Minidoka Irrigation District with a check for $4.55 million for the replacement of the Minidoka Dam Spillway.
By C. COLT CRANE, The Voice, February 15, 2012
MINIDOKA –Congressman Mike Simpson was on site at the Minidoka Dam Spillway to present the Burley Irrigation District and the Minidoka Irrigation District with over $7 million in loans for repairs to the 102-year-old spillway.

When the area was settled during the 1800s, the Federal government realized the irrigation potential of the Snake River. From 1889 to1890, the U.S. Geological Survey surveyed the Minidoka area for potential sites for large irrigation projects.

After Congress passed the Reclamation Act in 1902 to bring water to the West, the technical and financial means to develop such a large scale irrigation project were realized. The Act also specified that the beneficiaries of the irrigation project (in the form of power and irrigation water) would help to pay part of the construction costs as well as ongoing maintenance and operation costs.

Construction on the Minidoka Dam began in 1904 with several canals and farm delivery systems completed by 1906. The Minidoka Dam power plant began generating electricity for the area in 1909 with Lake Walcott supplying irrigation water during the same year.

With the construction of the American Falls, Island Park, and Grassy Lake Dams between 1927 and 1939, Reclamation had to relocate the city of American Falls and its residents due to its location on reservoir flood lands.

The onset of World War II saw the U.S. government’s relocation of thousands of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast.

“The evacuees built and repaired portions of the Minidoka Project’s canal system and assisted in clearing the land and planting crops,” Bureau of Reclamation records indicate.
At the culmination of the war, the Bureau of Reclamation offered the internment camp buildings and equipment to war veterans including Japanese-Americans who then settled on the project. Today the National Park Service manages the Minidoka Internment National Monument to preserve the historic site.

“We are the beneficiaries of our forefathers,” said U.S. Congressman Simpson of the area’s historical significance.

The Burley Irrigation District received two loans totaling $3 million for a 20-year term at a 3.75% interest rate. The Minidoka Irrigation District received two loans totaling $4.55 million for the same repayment rates and conditions.

Representatives of both irrigation districts and the Bureau of Reclamation expressed gratitude for the loans that will be essential in replacing the spillway as well as two irrigation district head-gates.

“A big thanks must go to the patrons of the districts,” said Chris Ketchum, of the Bureau of Reclamation, “A long-term delivery of these water resources is critical to the local economy.”

According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Minidoka reservoirs “store flow of the Snake River system for later irrigation use, electricity production and to reduce flood damage.”

Congressman Simpson expressed his gratitude for the work of the irrigation districts and the Bureau of Reclamation in ensuring the appropriation of funds to replace the spillway.

“It always comes down to funding,” said Simpson, “I want to thank you all for the work you’ve done on this.”

Construction at the dam site will not only consist of replacing the 102-year-old spillway and two headgates but will also incorporate the addition of radial gate structures to provide discharge capacity and summer flows to the downstream habitat complex.

“It’s going to provide security for our area for years and years to come,” said Dean Edgar of the Burley Irrigation District.

Bill Thompson of the Minidoka Irrigation District echoed Edgar’s sentiment.

“I think this is going to be a great asset,” said Thompson.

The Minidoka Dam Project will provide fish and wildlife enhancement as well as outdoor recreation opportunities.

The yearly value of the project is approximately $622 million in irrigated crops, $342 million for the livestock industry, $5.6 million in power generated, $8.8 million in flood damage prevention and over 674,000 in recreational visits which amounts to $25 million in revenue.