Last week the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, legislation to reduce spending by over $100 billion for the remainder of the current fiscal year.  The House also passed H.R. 514, legislation to extend expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act for 90 days in order to give oversight committees the opportunity to hold hearings on whether or not they should be extended long-term.

Simpson Applauds House Passing Historic Spending Reductions
Congressman Mike Simpson joined his Republican colleagues early Saturday morning in supporting H.R. 1, legislation that cuts federal spending by over $100 billion for the remainder of the current fiscal year.  The House debated this legislation under an open process for the past four days, during which nearly 600 amendments were offered.

“This continuing resolution is the largest spending reduction in our nation’s history,” said Simpson. “These cuts and the open process under which they were considered represent a turning point for our nation, as Congress begins to respond to the concerns of the American people about the size of government and the growing national deficit. Cutting spending by over $100 billion is a huge step in the right direction, but it is only the first step, and Republicans are committed to doing what it takes to reduce federal spending, balance our budget, and get our economy growing again.”

As Chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, Simpson reduced funding for the agencies under his jurisdiction by over 14%--including a 30% reduction in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency.  The continuing resolution also included a number of provisions to limit EPA’s regulatory authority, including provisions to prohibit EPA from using funds to impose job-killing regulations over greenhouse gases and to usurp state authority over water.  Simpson also added a provision to the bill to prevent the Department of the Interior from enacting its new “Wild Lands” policy, as well as a provision overturning a court decision last summer to put wolves back on the endangered species list.

H.R. 1 was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 235 - 189.

Simpson Leads Effort to Overturn Court Ruling on Wolves
Supports language in continuing resolution to overturn judge’s decision to put wolves back on endangered species list
Congressman Mike Simpson has spearheaded an effort to undo the August 2010 ruling by Judge Molloy that put wolves back on the endangered species list.  The continuing resolution (CR) under consideration by the House of Representatives this week includes a provision to overturn the court decision and ensure that it does come not before Judge Molloy again.

Congressman Simpson is also an original cosponsor of H.R. 510, the Idaho and Montana Wolf Management Act of 2011, introduced by Montana Representatives Denny Rehberg, and H.R. 509, an effort to legislatively delist wolves.

“I fully support efforts to take gray wolves off the endangered species list throughout the country, and it has been an honor to work with Congressman Rehberg on both H.R. 509 and H.R. 510,” said Simpson. “Until that bill can be taken up by the House, I believe we need to take advantage of the opportunity that the CR provides to overturn Judge Molloy’s decision. Not only does this provide an immediate solution to the wolf management problem in the western United States, where wolf populations have grown robust and where effective plans are in place for managing these populations, but it gives us the chance to continue working for a broader solution like the one Congressman Rehberg has proposed.”

Simpson’s provision puts management of wolves back into the hands of states which had been managing wolves under approved and effective state management plans before Molloy’s decision, and it allows wolf hunts scheduled in Idaho and Montana and portions of several other states to be reinstated. 

“Ultimately I support complete delisting of this species, but this provision is a step in the right direction,” said Simpson. “Today the choice is between preventing state management by keeping wolves on the endangered species list and overturning Judge Molloy’s decision so that western states can implement their wolf hunts again, so I will strongly advocate for state management in Idaho.”

Simpson Votes to Defund Obama Health Care Law
Congressman Mike Simpson last week supported an amendment to H.R. 1, the FY2011 Continuing Resolution, offered by Labor Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Denny Rehberg to defund the implementation of President Obama’s health care bill that was signed into law last year. The amendment passed with a final vote of 239-187.

“The Democrats’ health care bill is wrong for our country,” said Simpson. “With 26 challenges to the law in various state courts, including Idaho, and the recent ruling in Florida finding the law unconstitutional, it doesn’t make sense to continue funding its implementation - especially considering the Supreme Court should ultimately strike it down.  I have also supported full repeal and defunding the bill so that we can then begin passing smaller bills that enjoy bipartisan support and focus on bringing down costs for American healthcare consumers.”

Simpson acknowledges the prospects for a full-scale repeal are slim because President Obama can veto any such legislation, but he will continue to work to defund the law through the appropriations process. “This amendment to the continuing resolution will make it more difficult to fund some of the programs in the health care bill that Americans have overwhelmingly rejected.”

Simpson Statement on Provision Protecting State Role over Non-Navigable Waters
Congressman Mike Simpson, Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment, issued the following statement on language he has inserted into H.R. 1, the House Continuing Resolution, that prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from using taxpayer dollars to implement laws or regulations expanding federal jurisdiction over state waters.  The provision would block any attempt by the Obama Administration to remove the term “navigable waters” from the definition of waters subject to EPA regulation under the Clean Water Act.  Currently non-navigable waters are regulated by the states.

“Most farmers and ranchers I talk to are scared to death about the possibility that the Environmental Protection Agency would be able to regulate their irrigation ditches, drainage ponds, and even groundwater, and I understand why,” said Simpson.  “In the West, water is critical to our way of life.  Allowing the federal government to claim jurisdiction over state waters would have a devastating impact on rural communities throughout our state and the food supply throughout our nation.  For that reason and others, I have moved to insert language in the House Continuing Resolution that will prevent any attempt by the EPA to claim additional jurisdiction over state waters and increase its already excessive authority over Western farmers, families, and businesses.”

The House Continuing Resolution funds the government for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year and was passed by the House of Representatives last week.

Simpson Questions White House Budget Director
Last week in the House Budget Committee, Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson questioned White House Budget Director Jacob Lew regarding President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget, which was released on Monday. 

Responding to claims that Obama’s budget included serious cuts and amounted to a “tough love” budget, Congressman Simpson said, “What the American people are saying is, ‘Get your fiscal house in order.’ I don’t see this budget getting our fiscal house in order.  We are going to have $400 billion savings in [Obama’s] budget over ten years.  You say the overall size of the budget this year is $3.73 trillion. But you only offer $40 billion in savings per year?  That is around one percent in savings.  That is not tough love.  It is continuing the current path we are on, with no future balanced budget ever.  The American people are rejecting it.”

Simpson focused his questions on the size of President Obama’s budget and the need to create a balanced federal budget every year. 

“I’ve heard [Democrats say] that we need to make tough choices, we have to live within our means,” said Simpson. “Let me ask, is there a balance projected in this budget?” 

Director Lew responded, “To get to balance will require a set of decisions that are beyond what anyone is discussing right now… We’ve gone through ten years of a combination of things that have driven the deficit up, we’ve had an economic crisis, but we’ve also had decisions to not pay for what we’re doing.  We now are going to have to deal with the results of that and it’s not going to be a quick process…”

After the hearing Simpson said, “I am disappointed to hear that balancing the budget is not even a part of the conversation in the White House. Fortunately, it is a discussion that is happening in earnest amongst House Republicans, and some Democrats.”

Simpson is a member of the House Budget Committee and is an original cosponsor of H.J.Res. 2, which would amend the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced budget every year.  The bill has 194 cosponsors.

The entirety of Congressman Simpson’s questions can be seen on his YouTube page.

Obama’s Budget: Not in Line with What Americans Want
Congressman Mike Simpson, a member of the House Budget and Appropriations Committee reacted last week to President Obama’s $3.7 trillion fiscal year 2012 budget proposal.

“I was disappointed to see President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget. It is not the blueprint for reduced federal spending and debt reduction that the American people and congressional Republicans are demanding,” said Simpson. “What the American people are saying is we need to quit spending money and start cutting, it’s that simple. This budget does not do that.”

This year, the federal government is running a $1.6 trillion deficit and the national debt is expected to reach $15 trillion, equaling the size of the entire U.S. economy. 

“Rather than cutting into bloated government programs, President Obama proposes that we decrease some programs and increase others in conjunction with a spending freeze at current levels. Increasing government to record sizes one year and then freezing it the next is not the solution, and it won’t satisfy Americans,” added Simpson. “One thing is clear: House Republicans will be offering a very different budget this spring. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee to build a budget that responds to what Americans want by reducing the size of government, allowing job growth, and beginning to get a hold of our massive and unsustainable national debt.”

In the News

EPA fight heads to Senate
By: Darren Goode, February 19, 2011 Politico
House Republicans led a charge late into the night Friday against Obama administration decisions to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, block mountaintop removal mining and allow increased use of ethanol in gasoline.

The continuing resolution faces an uphill climb in the Senate and a veto threat from President Barack Obama, but the myriad votes against the administration's energy and environmental initiatives this week will likely not be the last.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), chairman of the Interior-EPA Appropriations subpanel, said the strong support for riders blocking the Environmental Protection Agency will build momentum for future attempts to pass more permanent pushbacks on the agency's regulations.

"The same thing that you see on the floor with all the people offering amendments [on EPA] is the same thing I hear out in my district," Simpson told POLITICO. "If the issue of the EPA comes up, it dominates the rest of the conversation, and the EPA needs to know that."

The entire debate – covering hundreds of amendments over several days – was largely anticlimactic as well-worn partisan differences ruled the day. Democrats didn’t even bother to offer amendments aimed at stripping out the Republican language trumping EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

“I didn’t see any reason to,” Energy and Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) told POLITICO late Friday. “I didn’t want to make a bad bill any better. I didn’t think it was likely to pass given the makeup of the House.”

Waxman noted that an amendment Friday afternoon from Rep. Ted Poe and fellow Texas Republicans that minimally clarified the language already in the underlying bill won 249-176, falling short of the two-thirds needed to overcome an expected White House veto.

“I don’t know what they gained by it but they made me feel pretty good,” Waxman said.
With Senate Democrats insisting that Republican policy riders must be removed in order to pass a short-term spending plan and avoid a government shutdown, there is seemingly little likelihood that any of the amendments passed by the House will make it to the president’s desk.

“This bill is a joke cause it’s not going to become law,” Waxman said. “We’re spending an enormous amount of effort on amendments … to make a statement on a whole bunch of policy issues. A lot of these fights get dissipated as time goes on.”

“I think that we in the Senate will be reluctant to pass a CR that’s loaded up with wish list items,” Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) told POLITICO.

Simpson said the House can't concern itself with what the Senate will or won't do. "We can't base what we do based on what we think the Senate might do. We have to do what we think is right," he said.

The debate over EPA's climate regulations will not go away easily, however. Senate Democrats like Mary Landrieu will be pursuing language in the upcoming fiscal 2012 spending bill and elsewhere to block the agency's greenhouse gas emissions plan.

Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said Tuesday that he is planning to counter House Republicans’ efforts and offer his two-year delay as an alternative to the House spending bill language.

Rockefeller has six Democratic co-sponsors for his bill, and has said he’s confident he can get the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate.

Democrats who have supported Rockefeller’s effort to delay EPA – and even perhaps going further and permanently blocking agency controls – are not in favor of doing so on a continuing spending resolution that is meant to avoid a government shutdown.

“I would support some of the policies but not on this,” Landrieu said of the House bill. “I’ve supported riders before on appropriation bills, and I most certainly will hold that prerogative to support them. But not on a CR that threatens to shut down the government. I think it should be as clean a CR as possible.”

Aside from slashing EPA’s budget by about $3 billion – which is nearly 30 percent below fiscal year 2010 – the House passed several riders attacking agency decisions on a host of hot-button issues.

In the wee hours Saturday, the House passed Rep. Morgan Griffith’s (R-Va.) amendment barring funds for EPA water-quality guidelines for mountaintop removal mining, 235-185, mostly along party lines but with the support of a few coal-state Democrats like Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.).

Under Obama, the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers have raised the bar for issuing Clean Water Act permits to mountaintop removal coal mines, which discharge excess waste in Appalachian streams. The Interior Department is crafting new rules for mountaintop removal mining as well.

The House approved two amendments from Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.): One limits EPA's options for regulating coal ash. The other seeks to prevent the agency from revoking a Bush-era permit for the Spruce Mine in West Virginia.

An amendment from Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) barring EPA from making current coarse particulate matter, or farm dust, regulations more stringent passed, 255-168.

Also on climate change, the House adopted Science Chairman Ralph Hall’s amendment preventing funds from establishing NOAA’s Climate Service, 233-187. Lawmakers also approved an amendment from Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) barring contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 244-179.

While most of the votes this week were cast along party lines, some showed flashes of regional disparity common to some energy issues that could bode for a complex debate in future budget and policy battles.

Two amendments late Friday slashing federal funds for increasing the use of ethanol in gasoline handily won, perhaps in part due to regional differences on the issue, a tea party influenced Republican freshman class and an aggressive lobbying effort from environmental, auto dealer and oil industry groups.

An amendment from Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.) that bars funding implementing EPA’s recent decisions to allow E15 – a blend consisting of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline - was approved, 286-135, with roughly 80 Democrats and 30 Republicans breaking ranks with others in their respective party.

Likewise, Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake – a fiscal conservative whose track record in getting spending-slashing amendments approved on the House floor was mixed at best in recent years – easily inserted in the bill his plan to bar funds for blender pumps used to house ethanol-blended gas at service stations.

Overall, energy and water programs would see a $3.6 billion cut from last year's levels and the bill would also block the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from terminating the license review process for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility in Nevada.

The Interior Department also takes a big hit and the bill specifically goes after the department’s “wildlands” policy, the Obama administration’s signature initiative for public lands management.

But the House rejected, 209-213, an amendment from Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) that would have blocked the president from using the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate national monuments.

Thursday, Republicans flexed their legislative muscles against long-targeted Obama administration “czars” – voting to eliminate funding for outgoing top White House climate and energy adviser Carol Browner and others in the administration overseeing climate change, green jobs and other policies.