Mike Simpson

Somebody once told me it doesn't matter where you stand. What matters is what direction you are headed.

I didn't know that we were having trouble keeping teachers because of low pay on the reservation versus higher pay in Blackfoot and Pocatello.

It is going to take the cooperation of all sides. And I was hoping that the company, Simplot, and the tribes could get together and come to some resolution.

I have really enjoyed working with the Nez Perce Tribe on trying to save the salmon in the Snake River. We are going to get it done.

I want to thank Chairman Simpson, who is our representative, for his continued efforts on behalf of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes, and for his efforts on salmon recovery for the Snake River.

I would be more than happy to work with you with the ADA because I have a close association with them.

We can't allow it to happen.

It is going to be controversial. It is costly, but it has got to be done.

Our goal is to move us forward and to continue moving us forward to address just what you said.

If you really want to see poverty in America, let us go visit a few reservations.

I mean, we have been so lack in it over the century that it will be years before we can all stand up and say we are where we need to be.

Indian Country has been and will continue to be a bipartisan priority of this subcommittee.

The money you have requested is probably not going to go very far.

This is going to be a challenge for a long, long time until we address that need.

If there is ever a time when that initiative needs to be restarted or it needs to be worked on, I would encourage you to do it now because it is now more necessary than ever before.

How much of the current $167.5 million in this year's budget goes to local communities and grants to State and local communities in both the arts and humanities?

I have always found it kind of interesting that our committee, even when I was chair and even before that, we looked at the Arts and Humanities Councils, and we give them the same appropriation.

If you are going to reach your climate goals, and renewable energy, and those types of things, you can't outstrip our ability to deliver the critical minerals that are necessary in batteries, in solar, in other things, and for our defense…

I look forward to the day when we can actually sit down and talk person-to-person and meet face-to-face and discuss some of these issues.

Thank you, Chairwoman Pingree, and thanks for this hearing.

The staffing shortage has been an issue across the West, and it has inhibited us from meeting some public lands challenges with the urgency they deserve.

But basically, we can put all the money into a program in the world. If we don't have the personnel to carry out the projects and so forth that is necessary, it doesn't really do any good.

We can't wait two decades. That is somebody is born and they become an adult before we can improve their school, that is just too long.

I appreciate all the work that you all do and for being here to testify before this committee today.

One thing I wanted to follow up on what Representative Simpson said about the ability to have advanced appropriations versus mandatory funding.