Rep. Simpson Talks Debt, GOP

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson stopped by the studios Tuesday to talk about how federal cuts demanded by Congress will affect eastern Idaho residents.

He said everyone will feel the cuts, including workers at the Idaho National Lab.

“There’s probably going to be less funding of the site than there has been in the past,” Simpson said. “Will there be some layoffs? Probably. In fact, they’re going through a voluntary reduction in workforce right now.”

Simpson also said those cuts in funding will extend across the energy budget.

“The Energy and Water budget… on the committee I sit on there… won’t have as much money to spend on either water projects or in the department of energy across the board.”

Like the 87 freshmen representatives in Congress right now, Simpson said Idaho Republicans are leaning more and more to the right.

“Are they more conservative than they’ve been in the past? Yeah,” he said. “And I don’t always agree with everything that the Republican party, in general, puts forward.”

Simpson has a few more days off here in Idaho before he returns to his Washington D.C. home to assess the damage from Hurricane Irene.