You've surely never heard of it. It's an extremely obscure and non-controversial piece of legislation regarding certain water uses in two areas of Idaho wilderness. It has the support of both Idaho Congressmen -- Mike Simpson, R, and Walter Minnick, D.The bill passed the House today, 415-0. But just one week ago the House voted down a nearly identical bill by the same name, despite the fact that no one went to floor to make any arguments against it.
What happened?
The first time, the bill's lead sponsor was Simpson, the Republican, whose district is home to both of the wilderness areas in question. The second time, today, it was sponsored by Minnick, the Democrat, who faces a very difficult re-election and stands to benefit from the bill passing under his own name.
When the Republican sponsored the Idaho Wilderness Water Facilities Act, 187 Democrats voted against it, preventing it from getting the 2/3rds majority needed in the House to pass a bill on an expedited basis. Then the Democrat became the lead sponsor of the bill, and all of Democrats voted for it, allowing it to pass.
Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., complained about this today on the House floor and offered details that are missing from the Congressional Record. When Simpson brought up the bill last week, Democrats killed it in retaliation for the failure of a completely unrelated bill that spent $50 million to give landmark status to a beachfront plot on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. And so for this bill to pass, Minnick had to be given the credit.