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Recently in Washington Simpson Announces Academy Nominations “It is an honor to nominate Idaho students to the Military Academies,” said Simpson. “I am always impressed by the quality and character of our youth in Idaho. Each person is a fine example of what our state has to offer. They are bright, articulate, and ready to serve.” Students were selected on the quality of their application, scholastic achievement, references and extra-curricular activities. While a Congressional nomination does not guarantee acceptance to the Service Academies, many of Idaho’s nominees are selected for an appointment. The following students were nominated to either the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.; the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York; the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; or the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York. Nominees are: BOISE/EAGLE WESTON POCATELLO/BLACKFOOT SUN VALLEY/MACKAY IDAHO FALLS/REXBURG Monday, January 17th Tuesday, January 18th Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules: Begin Consideration of H.R. 2 - Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act (Closed Rule, 7 Hours of General Debate) (Sponsored by Rep. Eric Cantor / Education and the Workforce Committee / Energy and Commerce Committee / Ways and Means Committee) Wednesday, January 19th Complete Consideration of H.R. 2 - Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act (Closed Rule, 7 Hours of General Debate) (Sponsored by Rep. Eric Cantor / Education and the Workforce Committee / Energy and Commerce Committee / Ways and Means Committee) Thursday, January 20th H.Res. 9 - Instructing certain committees to report legislation replacing the Job-Killing Health Care Law (Structured Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. David Dreier / Rules Committee) The rule provides for one hour of general debate and makes in order the following amendment: Friday, January 21st EPA Critic Simpson Well-Positioned to Shape National Environmental Agenda Mike Simpson is not a member of any of the House authorizing committees that oversee EPA or natural resources, but in the 112th Congress the Idaho Republican will play a major role in setting national policy for energy and the environment. Simpson last week was named chairman of the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, a position that places him at the epicenter of what is expected to be a heated fight over funding for federal environmental and energy regulators. Simpson set the tone for his forthcoming tenure in a blunt Jan. 7 statement announcing his chairmanship of the panel, which oversees appropriations for the Interior Department, Forest Service and EPA. While noting the importance of the subcommittee for Idaho — almost two-thirds of which is federally managed public lands — he called the EPA “the scariest agency in the federal government, an agency run amok.” “Its bloated budget has allowed it to drastically expand its regulatory authority in a way that is hurting our economy and pushing an unwelcomed government further into the lives of Idahoans,” Simpson said. Simpson, who is known to alternate between moments of levity and impassioned debate during hearings and markups, echoed the familiar rhetoric of EPA critics during the two years he spent as the ranking member on the Interior-Environment Subcommittee in the 111th Congress. “The EPA is out of control when it comes to regulating every segment of our economy,” he said last July, when the panel marked up its fiscal 2011 spending bill. He has persistently criticized the funding increases the EPA has enjoyed under Democratic Congresses, as well as the pace of regulations. Last February, he complained to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson that agency regulatory officials “are sprinting like thoroughbreds out of the starting gate.” POWER OF THE PURSE Simpson more than once has sought to cut the EPA’s budget and use the savings to boost funding for public lands activities. In 2009, he inserted language into the fiscal 2010 Interior-Environment spending bill to transfer $107 million from EPA state and tribal grant funds to wildfire suppression activities. And during last July’s subcommittee markup of the fiscal 2011 spending bill, Simpson offered and withdrew a lengthy amendment that would have cut more than $150 million from EPA programs, while adding tens of millions of dollars to the Interior Department and Forest Service to cover unbudgeted payroll, health benefit and other fixed-cost expenses and prevent staff reductions. Reductions proposed in the amendment included cuts to numerous EPA climate change initiatives and to two popular drinking water revolving loan funds. Other Simpson amendments failed, including one to block the agency from using funds to implement changes to the definitions of waters covered under the federal Clean Water Act (PL 92-500). Another would have barred the EPA from forcing farmers to report greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. CLIMATE CHANGE Already in this Congress, he has cosponsored a bill (HR 97) that would remove greenhouse gases from the purview of the Clean Air Act (PL 101-549). In 2009, he added language to EPA’s spending bill to require the Obama administration to report all of its expenditures on climate change activities. Simpson also will shape energy policy from his seat on the Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee, a spot he has used to promote nuclear power. Simpson was also defeated in an attempt to strip from the Energy Department’s fiscal 2011 budget $25 billion in loan guarantee authority for renewable-energy projects.
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 Congressman Simpson talks with UPS Drivers before they head out in the morning.  Congressman Simpson discusses Dixie Drain Project in Treasure Valley |
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