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Back to back, the Senate State Affairs Committee this morning passed two resolutions - one that the sponsor said tells the federal government to stop “enticing” the state with money, and one that asks the federal government to send money to Idaho to start an M.D. degree program. Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise, said, “I simply cannot let this moment go by without pointing out the irony.” Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, said, “It’s a demonstration of the hypocrisy of the first resolution.” The first, HJM 4, from Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, declares Idaho’s sovereignty from the federal government and orders the feds to “cease and desist” from violating that sovereignty, including by dangling federal money. “We’ve been enticed over the years,” Harwood told the Senate committee. “This memorial sends a message to Congress to quit enticing us.” It passed on a voice vote, with several “no” votes.
Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Idaho Falls, then presented HJM 7, a memorial asking Congress to send Idaho federal money to offer a medical degree. Thompson said he prepared the resolution at the request of Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee. “HJM 7 is a tool that will help in identifying and making available federal funding for an … M.D. program in the state of Idaho,” Thompson told the panel. That resolution cleared the committee on a unanimous vote.
Stegner, who backed the second resolution, said of the first, “There’s numerous statements in that resolution that I think are silly and I certainly disagree with, particularly blanket statements that say United States currency is somehow weak, and that the federal reserve system is a failure - those kinds of statements couldn’t be further from the truth, and how could anyone in good conscience support a resolution that makes false and inaccurate statements? It’s an embarrassment.”
Betsy Z. Russell covers Idaho news from The Spokesman-Review's bureau in Boise.
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ThomG on April 01 at 10:37 a.m.
Senator Stegner said it well, “It's an embarrassment.”
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Callisto on April 01 at 8:19 p.m.
“NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the First Regular Session of the Sixtieth Idaho Legislature, the House of Representatives and the Senate concurring therein,
that the state of Idaho hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this serves as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the
scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions, or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited.”
But please, please, PLEASE send us lots of money for the Idaho National Laboratory, an expanded medical residency program and a new medical school. And do it now! Please?
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