Recently in Washington

Last week the House passed H.R. 861, which terminated the problem-plagued Neighborhood Stabilization Act, which has received billion in taxpayer funding since 2008.  The House also passed H.R. 1076, legislation to eliminate federal funding of National Public Radio.  Congressman Simpson supported both bills on the House floor.  In addition, the House passed a continuing resolution cutting $6 billion in federal spending over the next three weeks.  The continuing resolution expires April 8.

Simpson Issues Statement on Wolf Delisting Proposal
Department of Interior releases a proposed settlement agreement to delist wolves in Idaho and Montana
Congressman Mike Simpson Friday responded to the settlement agreement reached between environmental groups and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist wolves in Idaho and Montana.  The groups, the agency, and states have been involved in ongoing litigation over last year’s decision by Judge Molloy to reinstate Endangered Species Act protection of the gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains.  The agreement must be approved by the federal court in order to go into effect.

Simpson included language in H.R. 1, legislation continuing operations for the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year, to overturn Judge Molloy’s decision and return management of wolf populations in the region to states with approved management plans, putting pressure on environmental groups to settle.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the states, not the federal government, should be managing these animals,” said Simpson, who chairs the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee.  “The Fish and Wildlife Service made the right decision in delisting wolves and returning management authority to the states.  Idaho and Montana have effective, approved plans in place for managing wolves and should regain control over management. 

“I am hopeful that this proposal moves us closer to that goal, and I deeply appreciate Secretary Salazar’s tenacity in finding a long-term solution to this problem.  I am concerned, however, that this settlement could have a negative impact on states like Oregon, Washington, and Utah, which were not part of the original reintroduction area.  Wolf populations have grown so robustly that they are spilling over into other states, and those states should continue to have the flexibility to manage these populations.

“This settlement proposal makes it clear to me that those who have forced wolves back on the endangered species list realize that their position is not defensible,” said Simpson.  “They also realize that if they continue to push to have wildlife management decisions made by the courts, Congress will step in.  The House has already done so by including language in H.R. 1 to overturn Judge Molloy’s decision, and I will continue to push to have this measure signed into law.”

Simpson Fights for Lake Lowell Access
Idaho Congressman asks Obama Administration for assurances that Lake Lowell will remain open to a variety of recreational uses in future management plan
Congressman Mike Simpson last week sought assurances from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that existing recreational activities on Lake Lowell would be protected in a new Comprehensive Management Plan for Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge. Simpson, who is Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, expressed his concern about this issue to the Service’s Deputy Director Dan Ashe and Acting Director Rowan Gould during a Subcommittee hearing on the Obama Administration’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2012.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is in the process of creating a new Comprehensive Management Plan for Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge is co-located with Lake Lowell, a man-made irrigation reservoir that has been used over the course of the last century for a wide array of recreational uses. As part of its consideration of a new management plan, the USFWS has refused to rule out the potential elimination or curtailment of existing recreational activities on the Lake.

“Quite frankly, it is very frustrating to me that the Fish and Wildlife Service continues to cause great concern among my constituents and the people of Idaho by leaving open the possibility of ending recreational uses on Lake Lowell,” said Simpson following the hearing.  “That is why it was important to put this issue on the table with the Deputy Director and Acting Director and let him know what I am hearing from the people of Idaho on this matter. Idahoans are upset, and rightly so, that an inflexible federal government would even consider banning recreational uses on any lake, much less one that is man made.”

Simpson brought this situation to the attention of the Deputy Director in response to a letter he received from Idaho State Senators Patti Anne Lodge, Curt McKenzie, John McGee and Melinda Smyser seeking his help.

“We asked Congressman Simpson to get involved in this issue because he has a direct line of communication with the agency through his role in writing its budget and because our constituents are extremely concerned with the continued uncertainty surrounding future activities on the Lake,” said Senator John McGee. “I am grateful that the Congressman is pursuing our concerns with the agency and look forward to working with him to ensure recreational activities on the Lake Lowell are protected well into the future.”

In response to Simpson’s questions, Gould said that the Service had no intention of going through a process without recognizing the value of recreational uses and committed to working with the Chairman to make sure that the final plan addresses the concerns of the community. Following the hearing, Simpson pledged to continue working with the four Senators, the recreational community, and the rest of the Idaho Congressional Delegation to protect recreational uses on Lake Lowell. “The Fish and Wildlife Service understood the concerns I expressed today, and I am hopeful that they will act accordingly to ensure recreational uses on Lake Lowell continue,” said Simpson. “But if they did not understand my message, I am committed to doing whatever is necessary to make sure traditional uses on Lake Lowell are protected.”

In the News

Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson: ‘It’s time to tighten our belts’
The Idaho congressman is responsible for some of the toughest spending cuts in the budget debate now under way in Washington
By Erika Bolstad, The Idaho Statesman, March 20, 2011

WASHINGTON — It was two-and-a-half hours into a hearing where House appropriators were grilling the nation’s top environmental regulator, and it was getting ugly.

Or at least as ugly as it gets in a hearing chaired by Idaho’s Mike Simpson, where the greatest insult was Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., calling a Republican spending plan a “dump truck of a bill.”

“Dump truck?” said Simpson, shaking his head, and happy to dismiss it as part of “all the bull that’s thrown out” during the ongoing spending debate in Congress.

Simpson kept the bull to a minimum, though, and his legendary good nature was on display as he introduced EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at a hearing where Republicans pledged a major dismantling of environmental spending, and Democrats announced their intention to fight it every step of the way.

ASCENDING TO POWER
Since Republicans took over the House of Representatives, Simpson has assumed the role of a “cardinal,” the title for the powerful chairmen who run the appropriations subcommittees that shape federal spending. It has put Simpson not only at the heart of an ideological battle over spending, but in the middle of one about the size of government and its role, particularly when it comes to environmental regulations.

It’s also a job he’s aspired to do since being elected in 1998 — although presiding over budget-cutting during lean times hasn’t exactly been what he’d call “fun.” “It’s been a lot of work,” he said, after nearly four hours of discussion about the EPA’s budget with Jackson and his House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee last week.  And difficult decisions await the committee, he warned, as did the chairman of the full Appropriations Committee, Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky.

“While we’re borrowing 42 cents on every dollar we spend, we’re borrowing 42 cents on every dollar of the $9 billion that you’re asking for. That staggering figure is in and of itself disconcerting,” he told Jackson at the hearing.

Congress is in the midst of hearings on President Barack Obama’s 2012 budget requests, even as the House and Senate continue to work on a spending plan for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year. The federal government currently is operating on a stopgap funding bill, set to expire April 8.

Last month, House Republicans passed a bill that cuts $61.5 billion from this year’s spending. The bill, which covers spending through the end of the fiscal year in October, had no Democratic support, and failed March 9 in the Senate.

WALKING A FINE POLITICAL LINE
The House vote may have been symbolic, but even so, it signaled Republican spending priorities — in particular, the frustration many in the GOP have with the Obama administration’s environmental policies and the EPA.

As the bill was debated, Simpson kept busy on the floor of the House, defending $4.4 billion in cuts from agencies funded through his subcommittee, including $3 billion out of the EPA budget. He used the bill to give back to states the right to manage their wolf populations and also included provisions that would prohibit the EPA from spending any money on regulating greenhouse gases.

The moves prompted criticism from Democrats, who say appropriations bills should be strictly about spending, not policy or ideology. It included 22 amendments that were hostile to the EPA and other government agencies’ work on climate change, wetlands, air toxics, renewable fuel standards and mountaintop mining, said Moran, the top Democrat on Simpson’s subcommittee.

“And most of them were adopted on the House floor,” he said. “And that’s the problem with legislating in that manner at 2 a.m. in the morning.”  That aside, Simpson is great to work with, said Moran, who praised the Idaho Republican’s ability to maintain collegial working relationships with his colleagues, even those across the aisle.

“Everybody likes Mike, and for good reason,” Moran said. “He’s a very fair chairman.”  Simpson’s sense of fairness derives from his past role as speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives, said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.

“He’s been a speaker, so he really understands the process,” Cole said. “He masters the subjects. If you’ve ever sat though a committee meeting with him, he really understands what he’s talking about. He’s a member’s member in terms of knowing the mechanics.”

As someone who represents Indian Country, Cole said he has occasionally had to part ways with the committee’s Republicans on issues important to his American Indian constituents in Oklahoma. Simpson always understands that, Cole said, and doesn’t hold it against him.

“Each issue is a new issue,” Cole said. “He doesn't penalize you if you’ve disagreed with him before.”

His sense of humor is also a breath of fresh air on Capitol Hill, Cole said.

“There are not a lot of guys that laugh while they do their job. He does,” Cole said. “He’s a first-rate chairman and a first-rate member. If we had 435 Mike Simpsons in Congress, this place would work a lot better.”

Rogers described Simpson as “thoughtful,” and someone whose advice he depends on. He also depends on Simpson to lead some of the arguments on the floor of the House of Representatives.

“He knows how to put his thoughts into words well,” he said. “He’s very influential with leadership — and with me.”

Yet Democrats on the committee remain concerned about Simpson’s role in what they see as a major dismantling of their work on the environment. They fear the longer-term implications of the signal Republicans sent last month when they cut $61 billion from their failed 2011 spending bill.

“My biggest concern is that we are shifting the problems of today for bigger problems tomorrow,” said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., who is now the top Democrat on the full Appropriations Committee, and who led the Interior and Environment Subcommittee in the last Congress.

“We talk about saddling our children with debt. That concerns me greatly,” he said. “But by cutting these important environmental infrastructure programs…we are saddling future generations with deferred maintenance costs and a crumbling infrastructure that will cost more to fix than if we did it now.”

TOUGH CHOICES, BUT NECESSARY ONES
The day before that House vote, Moran and other House Democrats attended a press conference with environmental groups and state wildlife managers, who were decrying cuts that could wipe out a $90 million state wildlife grant program.

“What the House of Representatives did was to take drastic, drastic cuts in the budget in the name of conservatism,” said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J. “This is a radical attack on our land, our air, our water. Nothing conservative about that.”

The press conference drew two Idahoans who also planned to meet with Simpson to let him know what the cuts would mean in managing species in Idaho: Rex Sallabanks of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and Rob Fraser, president of the Idaho Wildlife Federation.  Their mission was simple: “I’m here to ask them to put $90 million back in,” Fraser said.  The cuts are tough, admitted Simpson. Each day, he has a parade of people in his office asking him to keep in place federal funding for their program. Many are from Idaho; many are his constituents. And many of the programs do good work, he acknowledged.

Such an acknowledgment sometimes puts him squarely in the middle of the Republican Party’s own internal debate over spending. House Speaker John Boehner, a friend of Simpson’s, must herd an unwieldy group of Republican freshmen elected in the tea party wave — including new Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador. Those new representatives are insistent on spending cuts and an end to earmarks. And Simpson, who supported earmarking until House Republicans put in place a moratorium, has on his subcommittee one of the biggest deficit hawks in the House: Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

As the House was debating its spending bill, those divisions were on display — including a failed effort by the conservative Republican Study Commission to slash an additional $22 billion in spending on top of the $61 billion already cut. Simpson was among the more centrist Republicans who warned it was too much money after they’d already made tough cuts to programs they believe are necessary.  “This just goes too far,” he said on the House floor, before the amendment failed.

But Simpson said that going forward, he’s willing to make the cuts that need to be made to rein in federal spending and get the nation’s debt under control. Give him a target number and he’ll meet it, Simpson said — and with thoughtful cuts, not across-the-board slashes.  “It’s never fun to go in and reduce spending,” he said. “But we don’t have the money.”