Recently in Idaho

Simpson, EPA Regional Administrator Hear Magic Valley Mayors’ Concerns
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson was joined last week by EPA Region 10 Administrator Dennis McLerran in meetings with local mayors in the Magic Valley.  When Simpson met with the mayors in February, they shared their concerns that small communities could not afford to meet federally mandated arsenic standards.  In response, Simpson invited Administrator McLerran to Idaho so that he could sit down with local representatives and try to find a solution to the problem.

“No one is more dedicated to providing clean water for their families and neighbors than local community leaders,” said Simpson.  “It was clear to me when we met earlier this year that these communities have reached an impasse when it comes to meeting federal Clean Water Act standards, and I brought their concerns back to DC and shared them with both the Regional Administrator and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.  I’m pleased that Regional Administrator McLerran took the time to come to Idaho and hear their concerns first-hand.”

Simpson and McLerran also spent time in the Treasure Valley, meeting with the mayors of Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and Caldwell.  Simpson has introduced H.R. 4798, legislation that would allow small communities in areas like southern Idaho where arsenic is naturally occurring to opt out of federally mandated standards.

House Legislative Business This Week

Monday, July 12, 2010
On Monday, the House is not in session.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 2:00 p.m. for legislative business.

Suspensions (10 Bills):
1) H.R. 3923 - Sugar Loaf Fire Protection District Land Exchange Act (Sponsored by Rep. Polis / Natural Resources Committee)
2) H.R. 3967 - To amend the National Great Black Americans Commemoration Act of 2004 to authorize appropriations through fiscal year 2015 (Sponsored by Rep. Cummings / Natural Resources Committee)
3) H.R. 4514 - Colonel Charles Young Home Study Act (Sponsored by Rep. Clay / Natural Resources Committee)
4) H.R. 4686 - Rota Cultural and Natural Resources Study Act (Sponsored by Rep. Sablan / Natural Resources Committee)
5) H.R. 4438 - San Antonio Missions National Historical Park Leasing and Boundary Expansion Act of 2010 (Sponsored by Rep. Rodriguez / Natural Resources Committee)
6) H.R. 3989 - Heart Mountain Relocation Center Study Act of 2009 (Sponsored by Rep. Lummis / Natural Resources Committee)
7) H.R. 4773 - Fort Pulaski National Monument Lease Authorization Act (Sponsored by Rep. Kingston / Natural Resources Committee)
8) H.R. 689 - Shasta-Trinity National Forest Administrative Jurisdiction Transfer Act (Sponsored by Rep. Herger / Natural Resources Committee)
9) H.R. 4973 - National Wildlife Refuge Volunteer Improvement Act of 2010 (Sponsored by Rep. Kratovil / Natural Resources Committee)
10) H.R. 2864 - To amend the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998 to authorize funds to acquire hydrographic data and provide hydrographic services specific to the Arctic for safe navigation, delineating the United States extended continental shelf, and the monitoring and description of coastal changes (Sponsored by Rep. Young (AK) / Natural Resources Committee)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 and the Balance of the Week
On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business.

On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business.

Suspensions (6 Bills):
1) S. 1508 - Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (Sponsored by Sen. Carper / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
2) H.R. 5390 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 13301 Smith Road in Cleveland, Ohio, as the "David John Donafee Post Office Building" (Sponsored by Rep. Kucinich - Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
3) H.R. 4840 - An act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1981 Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, Ohio, as the "Clarence D. Lumpkin Post Office" (Sponsored by Rep. Tiberi / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
4) H.R. 5450 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3894 Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, as the "Tom Bradley Post Office Building" (Sponsored by Rep. Watson / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
5) H.R. __ - To provide for certain clarifications and extensions under Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (Sponsored by Rep. Levin / Ways and Means Committee)
6) H.J.Res. 83 - Approving the renewal of import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 (Sponsored by Rep. Crowley / Ways and Means Committee)

H.R. 1722 - Telework Improvements Act (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Sarbanes / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

H.R. 5114 - Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act of 2010 (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Waters / Financial Services Committee)

In the News

Strange Bedfellows
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/213591.asp
Bill: Let congress block national monuments

A dozen Republican congressmen have introduced legislation to curtail the president's power to designate national monuments, authority first exercised by a Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt, more than 100 years ago.

"We don't need any more monuments, but that's the problem: They want to do it," Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the bill's prime sponsor, told McClatchy Newspapers.

The bill would curtail powers bestowed on the White House by the 1906 Antiquities Act, and used by Roosevelt to create monuments in Arizona's Grand Canyon and Washington's Olympic Mountains.

Congress later turned both monuments into much larger national parks, a monument-to-park path also followed with Glacier Bay and Katmai National Parks in Alaska, and Death Valley National Park in California.

The lawmakers' bill would require any monument designed by the White House to receive congressional approval within two years. Without a thumbs-up from Congress, the land would revert back to its previous designation.

Both Republican and Democratic presidents, from Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, have used their authority under the Antiquities Act to protect public lands - mainly unique landforms, historic places and sites of archeological significance.

Clinton was particularly active, designating 19 monuments.

In Washington, he designated the Hanford Reach National Monument, protecting the only un-dammed stretch of Columbia River between Bonneville Dam and the Canadian Border, and preventing agricultural development that would have threatened the "White Bluffs" of Hanford.

Agribusiness interests and the state Farm Bureau furiously opposed designation of the Hanford Monument. Loggers fought Clinton when he created the 353,000-acre Giant Sequoia National Monument in the Sierra Nevada.

Then-Montana Gov. Judy Martz tried to get Congress to roll back the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument - a Clinton creation - only to find the monument defended by recreationists in the Big Sky State.

The latest effort to amend the Antiquities Act stems from an Interior Department effort to identify areas that could be protected. Public lands in Washington's San Juan Islands are identified in a memo on the project.