the gentleman from idaho is recognized. mr. simpson: and i thank -- i take the gentleman from washington for his word and he wants to work these out in a bipartisan fashion. i'm not sure that the gentleman geez with some of the rules and we would like to get back to regular order and we would like to do it. but if we had time to confer and i understand what the gentleman is saying, very noncontroversial amendment that could have been adopt, was mr. buyer's amendment that we talked about on the veterans he' cemeteries within the national park service. but i take the gentleman at his word and i look forward to working with him in the future on this and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes vit. mr. simpson: i request the yeas and nays. the chair: the gentleman asks for a recorded vote? mr. simpson: recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on th

poe point i thank the gentleman from idaho for yielding and -- mr. poe: i thank the gentleman from idaho for yielding and thank the chairman for all the indulgence tonight. i know it's been a long evening. as we approach midnight here in the cradle of democracy and freedom, sad darkness is also falling heavy on the men and women and their families of the houston police department in texas. two nites ago we lost a hero veteran police officer in our city of houston. the houston police department senior officer henry was killed in the line of duty. he was an undercover police officer doing the very dangerous work of holding criminals accountable to the law. it is because of brave men like this officer that the rest of america can sleep safely tonight and every night. undercover officers face their own unique set of dangers. assuming the identity of a criminal, they mix with the worst elements of evil in our society. they seek out these outlaws, become a part of their world and they bring them to justice. their bravery, their nerve, is unequaled anywhere

the gentleman from idaho. mr. simpson: i now yield two minutes to my good friend from indiana, the former chairman and now ranking member of the veterans affairs committee, mr. buyer. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. simpson: for three minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. buyer: i thank both gentlemen for their leadership. in spring of 2007, the condition in the 14 national cemeteries under the jurisdiction of the national park service are not maintained at the same high level as the national cemeteries administered by the department of veterans affairs of the of these 14 cemeteries, two of them, one in georgia and one in tennessee are still open and interveterans. while on active duty as a colonel, i visited andersonville with officers. and i discovered the conditions of the cemetery to be unacceptable and not to the standard that these heroes have earned. the grave markers had not been washed in some time, as you can see in this photo. the markers are

for what purpose does the gentleman from idaho rise? mr. simpson: is the clerk going to designate the amendment that's before us? the chair: the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 1 printed in part a of the house report 111-184 offered by the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: part a, amendment number 1, printed in house report number 111-184, offered by mr. dicks of washington. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from idaho rise? mr. simpson: i request for a recorded vote on amendment number 1. the chair: the request for recorded vote has been withdrawn. pursuant to the voice vote the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 3 printed in part b of the house report number 111-184, offered by the gentleman from nevada, mr. heller, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the n

and tried to read it the idaho mountains on a bicycle on steel rail. okay, i will say the last day and so we can -- do have some questions otherwise i can keep on going? let me finish with this. but mr. fuller said in the 70's or 60's keep in mind you're talking about a good generation ago, he said in the 21st century we're going to find out what the humanity is a failed experiment are not. take your life back some of you can quite that far but mostly can come and take your life back 21978 the year i made it the blue highway trip coincidentally, and think of the highways -- think of the problem sorry about is 78 and the problems we're talking about now. what were we not talking about in 1978 that we are talking about now? i thank you get sort of an indicator of which way this human experiment is going. yet a little sort of

we're still not to idaho by the way it. we did past stinking water pass. in this alice-in-wonderland world of rationalization were up is down and less is more our customers are by less competition and higher prices while on the taxpayers a dime better served. in bend, oregon and the general motors terminated the only gm dealerships substantial service repair facilities servings -- servicing thousands of assisting thousand square mile radius and to the planners behind us understand the rural america really understand

there is a dentist and court alain idaho richard smart to has invented an ordinary mountain bike that he mounts the outrigger you put on top of a steel rail the other real and you get on the bike you ride down the abandoned railroad lines are usually left up i heard about him and wrote a letter, what? >> [inaudible] questions? okay. i heard about this and i wrote a letter and said i want to try your real cycle and said , now so q and i did and you will see what it is like to get on top of a bicycle on top of rails and idaho and try to ride that on that steel real so i will say the last thing sowed you have questions otherwise i can't keep going on. [laughter] let me finish. in the '70s are late sixties it was said to keep in mind we talking about a

we're still not to idaho by the way it. we did past stinking water pass. in this alice-in-wonderland world of rationalization were up is down and less is more our customers are by less competition and higher prices while on the taxpayers a dime better served. in bend, oregon and the general motors terminated the only gm dealerships substantial service repair facilities servings -- servicing thousands of assisting thousand square mile radius and to the planners behind us understand the rural america really understand customers and the world market, the loyalty, let's talk plainly if you want to turn gm and chrysler into a network ever been dealerships then tell me the don't ask me and my constituents to provide the bailout. or is your plan to use the crisis of bankruptcy as a cheap and quick way to get rid of dealers you don't want only to eventually sell or put in place since you don't sell them a new franchise in a market you have laughed? if you plan to reduce dealers can you give me a guarantee was simply get rid of a bob thomas only to turn around and

dicks, and the gentleman from idaho, mr. simpson, each will control 0 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman's time is reserved. mr. dicks: it is my privilege and pleasure to present the interior, environment and related agencies appropriations bill to you today. this very fine bill is the product of many hours of hearings and briefings, always with bipartisan input and excellent participation. i'm particularly pleased to present the bill with my friend, mike simpson. the bill before us provides historic increases for the environment, natural resources and native american programs, especially indian health. it also includes significant allocations to protect our public lands, invest in science and support important cultral agencies. at a time and a total of $3 billion, this bill is an increase of 17% above last year. chairman obey recognizes that the programs funded through this bill have been chronically underfu

heller: i yield a minute to my colleague from idaho. mr. simpson: i thank the gentleman for yielding. this doesn't cut off funding for the fire center. what it does is cut off funding for the fire center in that location. it doesn't matter what the environmental review is done or not. if that location is not acceptable to the local residents. one of the things in dealing with federal agencies that own a majority of the land surrounding you is that sometimes they are good neighbors and sometimes they aren't, but local people ought to have some say in these federal agencies' decisions of whether they are going to locate facilities and so forth. just saying this area, this location that you're looking at is inappropriate as the board of county commissioners has said, seems appropriate and congress ought to look at their wishes and i guarantee you in nevada, there are a lot of places they could build this fire center that wouldn't cause the controversy when the representative from thear comes to me and says this is a problem, then i have to bel

merkley: i thank my colleague from the state of idaho. thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. johanns: the legislation that i introduced today, as i said, mr. president, is the free enterprise act of 2009. and its purpose is very straightforward. the free enterprise act of 2009 requires prior congressional approval of any tarp funding that results in the government taking a common or preferred equity interest in any private entity. since the inception of the tarp program, my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, in a very bipartisan way, have voiced concerns over the management, the oversight, and the purpose of tarp. yet, the program continues to drift away from its original purpose to buy toxic assets and keep credit flowing. that was the purpose of tarp when it was sold back in october. tarp was never intended -- never intended to be a revolvin revolving $700 billion blank check for the administration to use however it sees fit. but, unfortunately, that's exactly what it has become. first, the checks were used to bail

i think that the amendment we offered last night, and my colleague from idaho, mr. minnick, it's an important thing to save jobs in this country. he said it would be over 200-something jobs in his district, over 4,000 jobs could be affected. ancillary jobs by over 20,000 jobs. i really stress this is an important amendment and i appreciate the gentleman for yielding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from time has expired. the gentleman from colorado continues to reserve? mr. perlmutter: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i'm happenity pi to yield to my friend from athens, georgia, who would have had an amendment if we'd been allowed to debate. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. brun: i rise in strong opposition to this rule. i submitted six amendments to this bill and i'm outraged the democrats have denied my right to debate and receive a vote on any of them today. they not only denied my right but they are denying americans the ability for us to present -- to present

california, texas, colorado, new mexico, washington, south carolina, tennessee, idaho, georgia, anybody live there? those are the states that are expecting this cleanup money. your governors are expecting this cleanup money. mayors of communities are expecting this cleanup money. this isn't just little slush in tanks that we are trying to clean up, ladies and gentlemen. this is a 50-year residue of the cold war, dangerous, dangerous proliferation risks, dangerous health and safety risks. these states have agreements -- usually because they sued the federal government to this money be spent for this cleanup. if you think this is a triviality and your phone is ringing from your governors, they are saying our communities are at risk. you need to pose this motion to recommit. we have had hearing after hearing, subcommittee markups, committee markups, none of this was brought up. support this mark. defeat this motion to recommit. mr. skelton: i yield two minutes to the the gentleman from hawaii, the chairman of the air, land subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman may not yield

idaho. with fields of the finest hops known to man.vested at just the right moment, to produce the perfect balance of flavor... and refreshment. i'm sorry, you guys were saying... uh, budweisers all around. ♪ dude, you feeling the hops? i'm so feeling the hops. yeah! >> elimination game at the college world series between arizona state and north carolina, roy williams in carolina, roy williams in omaha. jacob stalling lays down the safety squeeze scoring levi michael, 1-0 tar heels. top four, bases loaded with one out, two strikes, stalling, again, lays down the safety squeeze. that scores a run. next batter. would we see another safety squeeze? no, not this time. mike cavasinni going the other way. that scores michael. bases juiced for cole calhoun. goodnight -- a grand slam. calhoun's second home run off brian moran. game tied at 4-4. bottom seventh, tied at 4-4, calhoun fakes the bunt, pulls back and rips a two-r.b.i. double, a.s.u. scoring four runs after falling behind 4-0 -- they face texas next. mike patrick and robin ventura wi

hampshire, it's good for nevada, it's good for north dakota, it's good for wyoming, it's good for idaho. the republicans killed our ability to save half a billion dollars, they killed our ability to create 40,000 new jobs. and tourism is a trillion-dollar industry in this country. the republicans killed this legislation. mr. dorgan: madam president, if the senator would yield for a question? mr. reid: i would be happy to. mr. dorgan: madam president, last thursday the majority leader and i stood in that aisle and the question was going to be under what conditions would this travel promotion act come to the floor of the senate, and we said, do you know what? tell us what amendments you ne need, tell us which amendments you wish to offer and we'll give you some. and so it ended up five amendments on their side, three on ours, just as a start. it wasn't going to be a limit or anything but we'll just start with five and three. so they showed us their five and none of them had anything to do with the bill and we said okay, that's fine. those five are fine. you can offer those. they were all

we are seeing similar figures in mississippi and idaho. it is giving us some sense that the provisions are being adhered to and we are seeing money flow to economically distressed areas as part of the economic recovery funding. >> does your agency had any kind of mechanism to make sure the money obligated to use in order to actually put it to good use rather than abdicating the money that has it sit there? movement -- >> we are seeing the project move very quickly from obligation to advertisements to underway. we are looking at 5,000 projects that have been approved, 1500 of those projects. we are seeing projects move very quickly through the pipeline. the dots are committed to that, as are the local governments. we are not going to see a lot of money. we are seeing projects move very quickly. >> the transportation outlays on this map provide certain money allocated to each state. are the numbers set in stone or is there room for you to move funds from one state to another? >> on the highway side, they're obligated by formula so there is n

white supremacists and arkansas, michigan and idaho, and new world order conspiracy chasers in portugal and california. the program is an hour. c-span: jon ronson, the book is called "them: adventures with extremists." where did you get this idea? >> guest: i spent a year with an islamic fundamentalist leader in london called omar bakhri mohammed. and it was just going to be a newspaper article, actually. and he was so unlike one's mental picture of a muslim extremist. he was kind of buffoonish and silly and burlesque. i thought, "that's so interesting. he's not like -- he's not the one-dimensional demon we're -- we're led to believe." i thought -- i wondered if other extremists would be like that. so then i spent a lot of time with a klan leader who was giving his klan an image makeover. he kind of figured that the klan had a bad image, so he wanted to, you know, ban the "n" word and ban the robes and the hoods and the cross-burnings and -- and replace those things with personality seminars, teaching -- teaching their klansmen to be -- you know, to work out whether they're melancholics

we're seeing similar figures in mississippi, idaho.gives us a sense the provisions are being adhered to the nbc money flowed to economically distressed areas as part of the economic recovery pending. >> your agency have any mechanism to make sure the monies that are obligated to use expediently to actually put it to good use or cues rather than simply obligate the money and have it sit there? >> . >> projects that are selected our projects ready to go so we see those move very quickly from obligation to advertisement, award, under way. that is why we have 5,000 projects that have been approved to date already 1500 of those are under way. we're saying projects move very quickly you through the pipeline the state dot is committed to having that happen as well as the local governments i do not think we will see a lot of money sitting around. we have projects moving very quickly to get people to work. >> i see the outlay on the map have certain money allocated to each state. are the numbers here set in stone or is there wiggle room for you

it goes all the way from oregon and idaho all the way down to north las vegas. >> how many people in the district? >> oh, goodness. >> probably more now. >> at that time district one which is metropolitan. metropolitan clark county, los vegas, the largest population center. a very rural. very much branching. >> the rent. >> yes. the largest metropolitan area probably would have been -- if you didn't count north las vegas it would have been the reno. in carson city. >> did you have all of reno? >> oh, yes. >> is it fair to call this of fairly conservative district? >> very conservative. seventeen counties in our state. the only one that traditionally goes blue is clark county, which is vegas. the rest to vitiligo read. i'm proud to say this last election. it has made as a swing state for a number of election cycles. >> it is now represented by a republican. >> has been a republican for a long, long time. >> one of my colleagues is of representative. now, i do want our audience to know that if you have any sense of reading for fun or if you are a teacher or if you have any interest in

the little book cliff in colorado, in idaho, the hal cha. the mustangs at havasu, gallop, grazing, trying to make more of their own. pawing through the ice in winter to scrounge for forest. appearing in the backyards of the new leva towns that are recommend kiting across the desert, -- replicating across the desert. spreading seed so new grasses can grow, stopping for a drink, trying to cross highways, trappers running from bullets, on they go, but for how much longer, we cannot say. they really belong not to man, will james wrote, but to that country of junipers and sage of deeofdeep arroyos and mesas. now i just want to show you one picture. can you all see this? this is bug, the horse that survived the christmas massacre. outside reno in 1998. this is a picture of her taken last june. i had been visiting with her as you can tell, she's about 11 years old now, and she's just the sweetest and most big hearted horse i've ever met. i thought you might like to meet her. she's a spiritual and historical descendescendant of comanche, ae horses t

hope to not undercut it by anything i say today either, frankly but last week at the university of idaho, chief justice roberts spoke about the judiciary nomination and confirm, process. the chief justice talked about how the process of appointing new justices to the supreme court has become polarized and politicized as senators try to pin down how a nominee might vote on particular issues. the chief justice expressed the view that judiciary nominees should not be expected to provide detailed i'd logical information during the -- i'd logical information during the confirm, process -- since judges are expected to be impartial in hearing the case that is come before them. i agree with the chief justice. but i want to say more. the process for picking federal judges is totally broken, and it badly needs to be fixed. i think there's a great deal of merit to the editor in the los angeles times on february 8th calling for an end to the judge wars, and to move beyond parties in battle over nominations to the federal courts. the los angeles times observed that if president obama wants to deliver

at a meeting of the western governors in february, governor otter from idaho made the statement very clearly that in those instances where we have the opportunity to cite transmission lines and not go through federal lands we're often going to want to exercise that. there are a couple of issues that come to mind in terms of permitting of federal lands. if you live in the west it's difficult to avoid federal lands. many of the states are covered with lands under federal jurisdiction both the departments of interior, departments of agriculture. so that -- that's certainly an issue. second, there's no priority system. for dealing with lease applications. it's on a first come, first serve basis. one of the things that we're doing with the western renewable energy zones is really point what we think is a critical issue. there are places that are really better for not only locating renewable energy but there are also transmission corridors that are going to be more important in moving that renewable energy. we believe that there ought to be some kind of a way to recognize that priority and

foxx: i would now like to yield five minutes to my colleague from idaho, mr. simpson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. simpson: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i come to this side of the well because i fear the distance between us has grown so great we can no longer hear each other from the chasm that divides us. it's time to stop talking at each other and start listening to one another. when i first read this rule, i wasn't so much angry as i was deeply saddened. i was saddened by what we have allowed this institution to deinvolve into. little more than a third world dictatorship. and we are all to blame because we have all allowed this to happen. we can point fingers at one another add nazz yam, claiming we did this to you, you did that to us, etc., etc. unfortunately, pointing fingers has never solved a problem. i was also saddened because the rules committee had it within their grasp, within their power, to pull us back from this precipice that we find ourselves on. but they chose not to. they took a pass. as i said at

. >> guest: that's correct but district to was very large, all the way from the oregon idaho border about us all the way down to north las vegas. >> host: how many people in the district? >> guest: goodness knows my probably more now. >> guest: at the time the district one which is metropolitan shelley berkeley, a great woman, metropolitan clark county las vegas, was the largest population center so very much mining, ranching. >> host: the district iran? >> guest: yes,, the largest metropolitan area if you didn't count the largest area would have been reno and then carson city. >> host: did you have all every now? >> guest: yes. >> host: so this is fair to call this a very concerted district? >> guest: fairly conservative, of the 17 counties in a state the only one that traditionally goes a blue is clark county which is las vegas and the rest typically go read. it depends on the candidate, and in this last election as did our state that has made us a swing state for a number of election cycles. >> host: is now represented by the district in which iran now represented by a republican. >> g

tibet in population talk terms is the same as idaho and it would win the affection of the world, if it eased up a little. as you probably remember as a journalist in the 1980's to the main chinese leaders were in fact-- apologize to tibetans on behalf of what had been done to them and he showed a great interest in buddhist affairs. bus of them might well turn things around and then tienanmen square happen and those of them got purged. tienanmen square set it back but i think the dalai lama knows that there are other such people in the chinese leadership evin we think differently from the party line and its some point they will get that chance. >> in the back here. >> the dalai lama is quite a successful author in terms of sales of books though he doesn't seem to have much in the way of material needs. what is to do with all that money? how was that managed? >> you would be surprised that most of his books have not sold that much except for his collaboration with howard cutler, the art of happiness but of course he is successful in the sense that so many people around the world want to

. >> guest: that is correct but the district ii is the large and goes all the way from the oregon, idaho border above all the way down to north las vegas. >> host: how many people in the district, about? probably more now. >> guest: at the time district one which was was shelley berkley, a great woman, metropolitan, clark county loss vegas was the largest population center so very rural and mining and ranching. host with the district you were in. >> guest: yes, the largest metropolitan if you didn't count the north las vegas area would have been reno and then -- >> host: did you have all of reno? >> guest: yes. >> host: so this is, is it fair to call this a fairly conservative district? >> guest: very conservative. yes. the 17 counties the only one that traditionally goes blue is clark county which is las vegas and the rest to the klayko command. now lashawn can go either way it depends on the candidate and i am proud to say that it went blue the last election as did the state but it has made us a swing state for a number of election cycles. >> host: now it is now represented by the dist

it was from the organ idaho border above all the way down to north las vegas. >> host: how many peoplein the district about? >> guest: goodness -- >> host: probably more now. >> guest: the times shelley berkley in the district of mullah politician clark county las vegas was the largest population center so very rural and mining and ranching. >> host: the district you reimputed >> guest: the largest metropolitan area if you didn't count of north las vegas a real would have been reno and in carson city. >> host: did you have all of reno? >> guest: yes. >> host: so now this is is it fair to call this a fairly conservative district? >> guest: very conservative, yes. the only state in tradition that goes blue is clark county, las vegas and the rest typically go read it. washo can go either way it depends on the candidate and i'm proud to say it went blue as did our state but it's made a swing state for a number of election cycles. >> host: it is now represented by the district in which you ran is represented by a republican. >> guest: and has been for a long time which is dean heller. >> ho

we decided we were going to go to lemhi pass, which is on the idaho-montana border. it's the place where meriwether lewis became the first american to cross the continental divide. we camped up there that night, and we had the most gorgeous night, with the stars. you could reach up and touch them. we brought some booze along, and we had some students with us, and we got royally drunk and sang "god bless america" and other patriotic songs, lying on our backs, looking at these stars. i've wanted to write about lewis for a long time, and for one reason or another -- i was going bandied the to write about lewis when i finished with ike, and alice mayhew, my editor, said, "no, steve, you've got to do nixon next." i said, "alice, i don't want to do nixon. i don't like nixon." you know, that's a big undertaking, to write a biography. she said, "you've got to do it." i said, "no, i'm not going to do it." then she got me. she said, "where else will you find such a challenge as this?" so i did the nixon. that meant putting off the meriwether lewis. then it was time to write th