Recently in Washington

Last week the House passed H.R. 3590, the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2013 by a vote of 268-154.  Congressman Simpson is a cosponsor of this legislation, which protects the traditional right of American sportsmen to fish and hunt.  The House also passed H.R. 3964, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act, and H.R. 2954, the Public Access and Lands Improvement Act.  Congressman Simpson supported both bills. 

Simpson and Schrader Introduce Bill to Fix Wildfire Budget
Bill would end ‘fire borrowing’ and ensure resources available for hazardous fuel removal

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson and Oregon Congressman Kurt Schrader last week introduced legislation to make common sense changes to the federal wildfire budget.  H.R. 3992, the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, aims to end the destructive cycle of robbing non-fire accounts in order to pay for wildfire suppression when costs exceed an agency’s wildfire budget. 

In recent years, Congress has budgeted for wildfire suppression by appropriating money according to the average cost for wildfires over the past ten years, known as the “ten-year average.”  When costs exceed an agency’s fire budget, that agency is forced to borrow from non-fire accounts to pay for fire suppression.  Robbing these accounts means that the Forest Service and other land management agencies have fewer resources available for forest management activities like hazardous fuels reduction that would prevent catastrophic fires.  As a result, fires get worse and wildfire suppression costs end up devouring the agency’s budget.

As fire seasons have grown longer and more destructive, fire borrowing has become regular practice instead of an extraordinary measure.  In eight of the past ten years, the Forest Service has exceeded its wildfire suppression budget.  At the same time, the proportion of the agency’s budget devoted to wildland fire management has risen from 13% in the early 1990’s to 41% in 2013. 

“I have seen firsthand where good forest management practices, like removing hazardous fuels, have made the difference between a manageable fire and total devastation,” said Simpson. “It costs less, both in taxpayer dollars and in lost lives and property, to prevent wildfires before they start than to fight them once they are out of control.  Yet the way we currently budget for fire has created a devastating cycle of fire borrowing that is costing taxpayers and destroying our forests.”

Simpson continued, “This is why Congressman Schrader and I introduced the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act.  This bill treats catastrophic wildfires like similar major natural disasters—such as floods and hurricanes—and ensures that money intended for managing public lands is actually used for that purpose.  Changing the way we budget for fire will allow us to continue to fight fires without crippling our ability to prevent future fires from burning out of control.”

“The current system is broken and it severely hinders the ability of our land management agencies from being able to provide the resources needed to properly manage our forests,” said Congressman Schrader.  “We must break this endless cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul.  By ensuring we have the annual funding that is necessary to properly manage our public lands, we can reduce fuel loads, improve forest health, and save money in the long by preventing the catastrophic fires we see every year. This is good for our forests and good for the taxpayer.” 

Routine wildland firefighting costs make up about 70% of the total cost of fire suppression.  Under the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, these costs would be funded through the normal budgeting and appropriations process.  The true emergency fire events, which represent about 1% of wildland fires but make up 30% of costs, would be treated like similar major natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes, and funded under disaster programs.

H.R. 3992 is companion legislation to S. 1875, legislation authored by Senators Crapo and Wyden in the Senate. 

Simpson Votes to Protect Hunting and Fishing on Public Lands

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson last week supported legislation protecting Americans’ access to hunting, fishing and shooting on public lands.  H.R. 3590, the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act, would ensure that public land managers facilitate access for fishing, sport hunting, and recreational shooting on federal land managed by the BLM and Forest Service.  Simpson is a cosponsor of this legislation that passed the House by a vote of 268-154.

“This legislation will help ensure Idahoans continue to enjoy access to hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreational activities,” said Simpson. “Hunters and anglers have a long history of  enjoying these activities on public lands, and this bill ensures that they continue to have access to traditional recreational activities, even as land management plans change. As a member of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, I will continue to seek ways to protect and preserve access to recreational hunting and shooting.”

H.R. 3590 also allows for firearms to be legally carried on land managed by the Army Corps of Engineers and protects the use of traditional ammunition and fish tackle from needless EPA regulation.

H.R. 3590 is supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). 

The Broken Promises of Obamacare
By Congressman Mike Simpson

“If you like your current insurance, you keep that insurance. Period. End of Story.”

It turns out that wasn’t the end of the story. By now we all know this promise made by President Obama, repeated dozens of times in recent years, is not true.  It’s been called “the lie of the year.”  As Obamacare rolls out, Americans are learning it firsthand as cancellation letters arrive in the mail.  In fact, more people have lost their insurance (about 4.7 million) than have purchased new insurance plans through the exchanges (about 2.2 million). Promise broken.

Of course, this dubious claim is just one of many going unfulfilled as Obamacare’s many regulations are implemented. 

I’ve warned Idahoans for years that Obamacare would lead to rationing and longer waiting times. Unfortunately, these predictions are coming true. In their latest “report card,” the American College of Emergency Physicians lowered the nation’s previous C- rating to a D+, indicating that access, quality, and injury prevention and preparedness scores are declining as Obamacare adds more pressure on the system.  President Obama claimed Obamacare would increase access and quality, yet by every measure we continue going in the wrong direction.  Promise broken.

Who can forget the now infamous claim, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”?  As people learn that they can no longer use their regular doctor, many can’t find one who accepts their new plan. For most Americans, keeping their doctor is not an economic issue, but a personal one. In fact, the mother of one of my own staffers was recently told she can no longer make appointments at her eye-doctor of 42 years without first being referred by her primary care doctor. I am hearing similar stories from people all across Idaho. Promise broken.

Obamacare’s defenders have asserted that those whose insurance is being cancelled can simply enroll in a different plan with the same insurer. What they don’t mention is this “seamless transition” is usually to a more expensive plan. Some estimate Obamacare will increase costs by almost $2,000 per family by 2016 and increase healthcare spending by $625 billion over the next decade. Remember when President Obama claimed his law would “cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year”?  Promise broken.

Unfortunately, I fear it will only get worse. Target announced it is ending health insurance for its part-time employees because of Obamacare, joining Trader Joe’s, Home Depot, and other retailers that see the writing on the wall:  they can’t afford to offer Obamacare plans to their employees.  They’ve done the math, and it would cost less to pay $3000 per employee—the fine for failing to comply with Obamacare’s mandates—than to offer plans under this flawed system.  According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Americans will lose roughly 2.5 million jobs when the law is fully implemented. Democrats sold Obamacare as an economic booster, not a job killer.  Promise broken.

The Administration made a number of promises it could never keep, and now that the facts are coming to light, support for Obamacare has plummeted--today only 35% of Americans support it. 

We had a broken healthcare system before Obamacare. Regrettably, it's more damaged now.  Obamacare was the wrong path to take, and I continue to support delaying, defunding, reforming, or repealing it, and offering solutions to replace the law with REAL reforms to improve the health system for all Americans.

As the broken promises from the Obama Administration pile up, I will continue working to return healthcare decisions back into the hands of families, patients, and doctors.”

Floor Schedule

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH
On Monday, 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.

Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:

1) H.R. 2431 - The National Integrated Drought Information Systems Reauthorization Act of 2013 (Sponsored by Rep. Ralph Hall / Science, Space, and Technology Committee)

2) H.Res. 447 - Supporting the democratic and European aspirations of the people of Ukraine and their right to choose their own future free of intimidation and fear, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Eliot Engel / Foreign Affairs Committee)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH AND WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business.

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

Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:

1) H.R. 3578 - To ensure that any new or revised requirement providing for the screening, testing, or treatment of an airman or an air traffic controller for a sleep disorder is adopted pursuant to a rulemaking proceeding, and for other purposes (Sponsored by Rep. Frank LoBiondo / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)

2) H.R. 3448 - Small Cap Liquidity Reform Act of 2013, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Sean Duffy / Financial Services Committee)

H.R. 3193 - Consumer Financial Protection and Soundness Improvement Act of 2013, Rules Committee Print (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Sean Duffy / Financial Services Committee)

Possible Consideration of the Legislation Related to the Debt Limit

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH, AND FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH
On Thursday and Friday, no votes are expected in the House.

In the News

Bipartisan House duo introduce bill to prevent fire 'borrowing'

Phil Taylor, Environment and Energy Daily, Thursday, February 6, 2014 

Two Western House lawmakers yesterday introduced a bill designed to prevent the Forest Service from running out of wildfire fighting resources.

The bill by Reps. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) is identical to S. 1875 by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).

Both measures would allow the Forest Service and Interior Department to pay for a certain portion of wildfires using emergency funds separate from their discretionary budgets.

The idea is to prevent them from having to dip into forest stewardship accounts when wildfire funds run dry, which has been the case more times than not over the past dozen years.

"It's huge at the end of the day," Schrader said yesterday. "This is deciding whether or not there's an effective national Forest Service or not."

Schrader said he and Simpson are currently the only sponsors of the bill, but "we're going to be getting a lot of co-sponsors at the end of the day."

Simpson said the bill would not result in more federal spending, though it would change how the money is appropriated and spent.

"It's money we're going to spend anyway because we do it in supplemental appropriations," he said. "The problem is we do it too late."

And this year is as good as ever to get lawmakers to pay attention to the bill, he said, "because the West is going to burn with the drought that's going on."

The bill would fund the most severe and costly fires similarly to how the Federal Emergency Management Agency responds to hurricanes, floods and tornados.

The bill drew immediate praise from conservation, logging and state forestry groups as well as a Forest Service retiree organization.

"Wildfire costs and fire borrowing disrupts forest management and other key programs," said a statement by Bill Imbergamo, executive director of the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, which represents logging companies that contract with the Forest Service. "This bipartisan bill will help put the Forest Service back in the woods doing what they do best."

Supporting groups also include the Nature Conservancy, American Forests, the National Association of State Foresters, Sustainable Northwest, the American Forests Foundation and the National Association of Forest Service Retirees.

According to the Forest Service's fiscal 2014 budget request, in 2012 alone, the agency had to siphon $20 million from land acquisitions, $50 million from the national forest system, $30 million from capital improvement and $40 million from brush disposal to make up for a $440 million shortfall in wildfire funds.

Almost all of the funds were paid back, but the disruptions significantly hurt the agency's ability to keep forests healthy, top agency officials have said.

The Simpson-Schrader bill would allow the Forest Service and Interior Department to draw from an "off-budget" account whenever costs exceed 70 percent of the 10-year average cost of wildfire suppression.

That formula was picked because federal agencies estimate 1 percent of fires -- the most severe blazes -- account for 30 percent of the cost of wildfire suppression.

Wyden tried to convince colleagues to include the measure in the $1 trillion omnibus spending bill Congress passed last month but came up short. Simpson last month said leaders on the House Budget Committee had concerns but that they did not appear insurmountable (E&E Daily, Jan. 17).

The bill also seeks to potentially free up more discretionary money for both agencies. The portion of the Forest Service's budget devoted to wildland fire has risen from 13 percent in the early 1990s to 41 percent in 2013, crowding out other priorities.

Reporter Daniel Bush contributed.