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By Andrew Stanton
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Representative Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, called out a fellow GOP lawmaker to his face on Thursday over his tactics against the Biden administration.
Simpson, who represents Idaho's Second Congressional District, slammed an amendment proposed by Representative Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican, aimed at lowering the salary of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to only $1, raising questions about its constitutionality during remarks on the House floor Thursday night.
Conservatives in recent weeks have deployed the tactic of introducing amendments to reduce Biden administration salaries to a single dollar over their opposition to their policies. Even if these amendments were to pass the House, where Republicans have a slight majority over Democrats, but do not appear united on the tactic, they would almost certainly fail in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority.
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Norman explained the amendment was to provide Haaland, who is currently paid $221,400, a "chance for volunteerism and doing well for mankind." He defended the bill by pointing out her views on energy and environmental policy, such as past support for the Green New Deal, a massive piece of climate legislation embraced by progressives, and opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.
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"We are being forced to buy from OPEC countries that hate America that's funding Hamas now. And that's what this lady was for, doing away with the Keystone pipeline," he said.
However, Simpson, generally viewed as a more centrist Republican, dismissed the amendment, saying that salaries cannot be reduced simply due to disagreements over policy.
"So far, I have not heard anything that is not a policy difference. And again, I will repeat, elections have consequences. And again, I will tell you I don't think this is constitutional. I don't believe it's ever been litigated, but it's a way of getting around the fact we don't have the ability to fire somebody within the administrative branch of government," Simpson said.
He continued to say that if Haaland committed wrongdoing, he would be "fine with" this amendment, but that he hasn't "heard anything that the Secretary is doing any more than carrying out the policies for which she was hired."
Newsweek reached out to Simpson and Norman's offices for comment via email. A Department of Interior spokesperson declined comment.
Norman is not the first lawmaker to introduce an amendment to reduce Biden administration members' salaries. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, introduced an amendment to reduce Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's salary to $1 in September during debate about a Pentagon spending bill.
The congresswoman cited the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and COVID-19 vaccination mandates as some of her reasons for lowering his pay. Greene's amendment passed the House by voice vote, but a roll call was not taken, reported The New York Times.
Update 11/3/23, 10:28 a.m.: This article has been updated to reflect that the Department of Interior declined to comment.
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