Recently in Washington

Last week the House passed H.R. 5743, the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY13, which authorizes U.S. intelligence activities, both military and civilian.  The House also passed H.R. 5854, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act for FY13.  The bill provides funds for all non-emergency military construction projects and the Veterans Affairs Administration.  The House also began consideration of the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for FY13. 

Celebrating 25 Years of the GI Bill
“June 1, 2012, marks the 25th anniversary of the first permanent Department of Veterans Affairs-administered Montgomery GI Bill. Enacted in 1987, the landmark New GI Bill Continuation Act offered a life changing incentive for veterans returning from active duty to the workforce. By offering veterans access to higher education, it both strengthened our national defense and helped revitalize our economy.

“The GI Bill has proved over the years to be a boon for many of our veterans. Veterans are able to return home with a plan for their future. The education they receive helps many enter the workforce and provide for themselves and for their families in ways that were not previously possible.

“This program has blessed our nation and continues to do so by benefiting not only veterans, but many sectors of the economy by injecting highly qualified individuals to the workforce and the community. Veterans are able to combine the skill sets they learn both from their schooling and from their military training to become excellent leaders and contributors to society.  As I have said in the past – hiring former service members for patriotic reasons expresses appreciation and respect.  Hiring them for business reasons gets results.

“Our veterans fought to protect our freedoms and way of life, and as they serve our nation in its time of need, we must remember them in their time of need.  Veterans have made tremendous sacrifices to preserve our way of life, and the American people are indebted to the men and women who served our nation.  I am proud of the work Congress has done to improve veterans’ benefits.  It is important that we continue to honor our commitments to our nation’s veterans through legislation that benefits them, like the Montgomery GI Bill.

“So as the former Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Benefits, and as a grateful American, I want to pay tribute to the tens of thousands of veterans in Idaho and the millions in the United States who have given us so much.”

House Overwhelmingly Approves Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson praises legislation that supports veterans

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, praised the House passage of the H.R. 5854, the Fiscal Year 2013 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill.

H.R. 5854 funds the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Veterans Health Administration supporting a variety of veterans’ programs, including medical care and treatment, compensation, pensions, and training and education. Funding provided by this bill also meets critical needs such as suicide-prevention services, Arlington National Cemetery expansion, and homeless veterans outreach.

“Our veterans have made tremendous sacrifices to protect our freedoms and we must work to ensure that they receive the benefits they were promised,” said Simpson. “It is our responsibility to provide them with the care and services they earned and justly deserve.” 

The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill also provides essential funding for military construction and military medical facilities such as the new hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, the destination for our wounded troops evacuated from Afghanistan. 

H.R. 5854 overwhelmingly passed the House late Thursday night by a vote of 407-12.  It now awaits consideration in the Senate.

Committee Schedule

Wednesday June 6
At 10:00 a.m. the House Budget Committee will hold a hearing titled The Congressional Budget Office’s Long-Term Budget Outlook. CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf will testify.

Floor Schedule

MONDAY, JUNE 4TH
On Monday, the House is not in session.

TUESDAY, JUNE 5TH
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for morning hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

Continued Consideration of H.R. 5325 - Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013 (Open Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen / Appropriations Committee)

Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:
1) H.R. 2060 - Central Oregon Jobs and Water Security Act (Sponsored by Rep. Greg Walden / Natural Resources Committee)
2) H.R. 2336 - York River Wild and Scenic River Study Act of 2011 (Sponsored by Rep. Chellie Pingree / Natural Resources Committee)
3) H.R. 1740 - To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a segment of Illabot Creek in Skagit County, Washington, as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (Sponsored by Rep. Rick Larsen / Natural Resources Committee)
4) H.R. 3263 - Lake Thunderbird Efficient Use Act of 2011 (Sponsored by Rep. Tom Cole / Natural Resources Committee)
5) H.R. 241 - To authorize the conveyance of certain National Forest System lands in the Los Padres National Forest in California (Sponsored by Rep. Elton Gallegly / Natural Resources Committee)
6) H.R. 2512 - Three Kids Mine Remediation and Reclamation Act (Sponsored by Rep. Joe Heck / Natural Resources Committee)
7) H.R. 4222 - To provide for the conveyance of certain land inholdings owned by the United States to the Tucson Unified School District and to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, and for other purposes (Sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva / Natural Resources Committee)
8) S. 363 - A bill to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to convey property of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the City of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and for other purposes (Sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker / Natural Resources Committee)
9) S. 292 - Salmon Lake Land Selection Resolution Act (Sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski / Natural Resources Committee)
10) H.R. 4282 - International Child Support Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 (Sponsored by Rep. Rick Berg / Ways and Means Committee)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6TH, AND THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK
On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business.

On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes expected no later than 3:00 p.m.

Complete Consideration of H.R. 5325 - Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013 (Open Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen / Appropriations Committee)

H.R. 436 - Health Care Cost Reduction Act of 2012, Rules Committee Print (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Erik Paulsen / Ways and Means Committee)

Possible Consideration of H.R. 5855 - Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2013 (Open Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Robert Aderholt / Appropriations Committee)

Possible Consideration of H.R. 5882 - Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2013 (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Ander Crenshaw / Appropriations Committee)

In the News

Invasive Mussels on the Move Toward Northwest
Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review

BOISE - North Idaho Rep. Eric Anderson’s nightmare involves invasive quagga and zebra mussels slipping into Idaho’s waterways and altering the very nature of the state.

“It scares me, it really does scare me,” said Anderson, R-Priest Lake.

He was a featured speaker Tuesday at the Idaho Environmental Forum, a periodic forum on environmental issues facing the state, and he had a chilling warning: Only five states - Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming and Montana - have yet to be invaded by the tiny, fast-reproducing shellfish that chokes out native species and encrusts everything that touches the infested water.

And more and more mussel-infested boats are being intercepted on the way to Idaho, with the vast majority coming from the Lake Mead area. Two more fouled boats were caught on I-90 in North Idaho on Friday, for a total of 41 so far this year - and the summer boating season is just beginning.

If mussels show up in “any waterway in the Northwest here, it’s going to eventually end up in the Columbia and out to the ocean,” Anderson said. “We’re going to lose this whole system.”

Lake Mead is a National Park Service-administered recreation area in Arizona and Nevada, site of Hoover Dam, that’s now heavily infested with mussels. To demonstrate the magnitude of the problem, Anderson hung Idaho license plates in the water there along a boat dock; he showed one off on Tuesday.

After nine months in the water, it’s so encrusted with the thumbnail-sized mussels that the distinctive red, white and blue design of the license plate is almost entirely hidden, and the thin metal plate is now more than an inch thick, including its thick coating of dried mussels.

A longer-lived infestation at the Great Lakes has resulted in the near extinction of the native clam population, a sharp reduction in plankton and major changes in fish and plant species, along with expensive problems for water intakes, boat motors and beaches. “The exact same thing will happen here,” Anderson warned.

Anderson said he’s upset that the federal superintendent at Lake Mead hasn’t taken steps to require all boats leaving the infested lake to be decontaminated. A week ago, he fired off an angry letter to Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson. Simpson got $1 million allocated to the park service this year to fight mussels, but Anderson said the park service is targeting the money to “monitoring, prevention, outreach and research.”

Anderson called those “things that we don’t need,” saying, “We need to clean boats.” He said, “This money is not going where it was intended.”

Simpson’s funding bill for fiscal year 2012 specifically required the money to be used for “mandatory operational inspection and decontamination stations at federally managed or inter-jurisdictional water bodies considered to be of highest risk.”

Spreading invasive species is a crime, Anderson noted. “They’re doing it - it’s a crime.”

Simpson, an Idaho Republican, confronted parks officials about the issue in March when they spoke at a hearing at the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which he chairs. “It’s a priority for Congressman Simpson to do what we can to stop these invasive quagga mussels from entering Idaho,” said Simpson spokesman Nikki Watts, “and he has brought that up numerous times with the National Park Service when they’ve testified before his committee.”

In the meantime, Idaho has 15 boat-inspection stations up and running, to inspect boats coming in from out of state and target any mussels, which in most cases can be cleaned off with high-pressure hot water. “All five states have inspection programs that are coming on line,” said Amy Ferriter, invasive species coordinator for the Idaho Department of Agriculture.

Anderson said the biggest problem is boats that are moored for the winter in Lake Mead, then pulled out and brought to the Northwest; they require extensive decontamination after that much time in the mussel-infested waters.

He’s hoping to spur a federal crackdown on Lake Mead officials to stop them from letting infested boats leave without decontamination, rather than leave the five as-yet uninfested states to try to track them down at their borders.

“I’d like to see ‘em just curtail any boats going in, if they can’t clean the boats coming out,” he said.