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--></style><title>Re: [Vision2020] In D.C., Bill Sali Quick to Take
Lead</title></head><body>
<div>Too bad Sali probably doesn't read the NY Times which features an
excellent article today on the effect of minimum wage laws on border
towns in WA and ID. No, Moscow doesn't get a mention, but Post Falls
and Clarkston do.</div>
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<div><font size="+1"
color="#000000"
>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/us/11minimum.html?hp&ex=116857<span
></span>8000&en=bf304392cdc5baf4&ei=5094&partner=homepage</font
></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Mark</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At 6:06 AM -0800 1/11/07, Tom Hansen wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>>From today's (January 11, 2007)
Spokesman Review -<br>
<br>
What Rep. Sali voted against:<br>
HR 1 - Homeland security measures<br>
HR 2 - Increase of minimum wage<br>
<br>
What Rep. Sali is sponsoring:<br>
HR 26 - Commends Boise State University for their victory in the
Fiesta Bowl<br>
(other bills establishing English as the official US language and
a<br>
balnced-budget amendment)<br>
<br>
---------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
In D.C., Bill Sali quick to take lead<br>
Sense of humor key to his approach<br>
Parker Howell<br>
Staff writer<br>
January 11, 2007<br>
<br>
New Idaho Congressman Bill Sali proposed a bill Wednesday to combat
obesity<br>
by reducing the Earth's gravity, saying that's no more unreasonable
than the<br>
Democrats' legislation to increase the federal minimum wage.<br>
<br>
Both defy "natural laws," he said.<br>
<br>
"The well-intentioned desire to help the poor apparently will not
be<br>
restrained by the rules and principles of the free market that
otherwise do<br>
restrain American businesses and workers," Sali told the House
of<br>
Representatives. "Apparently, Congress can change the rules that
would<br>
otherwise affect the affairs of mankind."<br>
<br>
<br>
The Democratic-controlled House voted 315-116 to raise the federal
minimum<br>
wage to $7.25 an hour, with more than 80 Republicans joining Democrats
to<br>
pass it. But Sali stuck to his stance that the market, not
government,<br>
should determine how much workers are worth to employers.<br>
<br>
"Obviously, it was a facetious notion to suspend the laws of
gravity," he<br>
told The Spokesman-Review by phone from Washington, D.C., about his
"Obesity<br>
Reduction and Health Promotion Act," which proposed helping
Americans shed<br>
pounds by cutting gravity by 10 percent. "The same is true of the
act we<br>
took today."<br>
<br>
In his first few days on the job, Sali, 52, has been elected leader of
the<br>
small freshman class of Republicans, was invited to a meeting with
President<br>
Bush and voted against several bills sponsored by Democrats.<br>
<br>
Although Sali spent 16 years as a state representative from Kuna,
moving to<br>
Washington, D.C., has taken some getting used to, he said.<br>
<br>
"Things are so much bigger in terms of scale and scope here,"
he said. "In<br>
the Idaho Legislature, for example, I didn't have any staff. It was
just<br>
me."<br>
<br>
He now has to deal with OSHA inspections of his office and training
his<br>
employees in ethics and anti-discrimination policies, he said.<br>
<br>
As president of his class, he is helping fellow freshmen learn
legislative<br>
processes and procedures, he said. On the advice of past class
presidents,<br>
he is coordinating social events with new Democrats - both for
building<br>
relationships and for the "practical benefit" of moving
legislation.<br>
<br>
Sali and a small group of other legislators met with President Bush at
the<br>
White House last week to discuss the Iraq war.<br>
<br>
"It was really something to be in there," he said. "It
was kind of one of<br>
those 'pinch me' moments."<br>
<br>
He said Bush has "spent a lot of time listening" to military
commanders and<br>
will act on their advice.<br>
<br>
"The notion that we're going to end sectarian violence over
there, I think,<br>
is not even on the table; the president expressed that through a
number of<br>
his people," he said, adding that making peace between warring
factions is<br>
"not achievable."<br>
<br>
"I don't think that's our job. I do think our job is to help make
sure this<br>
fledgling Iraqi government is going to stand on its own two feet,"
he said.<br>
"There's a bunch of pent-up emotion over there and a lot of
pent-up desire.<br>
We may end up with a civil war before they get things straightened
out. In</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>the affairs of mankind, sometimes that's
what you need."<br>
<br>
Sali has also participated in several House votes, including the<br>
$2.10-an-hour minimum wage increase, to take effect over two years.
The<br>
increase is arbitrary, not tied to how much an employee's work is
really<br>
worth, he said.<br>
<br>
"It's just to give people a perceived pay raise," he said.
"The underlying<br>
problem is government spending."<br>
<br>
His obesity speech is characteristic of the congressman's outspoken
style,<br>
said former colleagues from the Idaho Legislature.<br>
<br>
"That's his sense of humor," said Rep. Frank Henderson,
R-Post Falls.<br>
<br>
Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, agreed, recalling a time Sali proposed
licensing<br>
legislators when lawmakers discussed licensing contractors. Even
though he<br>
didn't plan to introduce it, he actually held up a completed bill.<br>
<br>
"He's a very principled man, and he's not afraid to stand by
himself if he<br>
has to," Hart said. "I think he's already showing that. He
hasn't changed<br>
since he's been in the Legislature."<br>
<br>
But Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d'Alene, said using the logic of
Sali's<br>
obesity proposal, legislators should revoke government regulations
that<br>
benefit businesses as well.<br>
<br>
Congressional Democrats will likely succeed in their "100 Hours"
plan to<br>
pass several bills within the first 100 working hours of the new
Congress,<br>
Sali said. But he said Democrats are circumventing the committee
process and<br>
claiming to know what Americans need, which is "elitist" and
"arrogant."<br>
<br>
"If they were trying to do what's right, they would be spending
the time to<br>
go through the committee process," he said. "I've always
been a real<br>
advocate of slowing down the legislative process and giving everyone
the<br>
opportunity to have their say."<br>
<br>
So far, Sali has voted against "pay-as-you-go" rules
designed to prevent<br>
legislators from adding to the national debt. He said it will lead to
"tax<br>
increases combined with cuts to programs like defense."<br>
<br>
He has also voted against legislation that would add another committee
with<br>
oversight power over intelligence. Adding one actually counters the
Sept. 11<br>
Commission's findings by adding another layer of bureaucracy, he
said.<br>
<br>
Sali has signed up to co-sponsor amendments to balance the budget and
make<br>
English the official U.S. language, he said.<br>
<br>
He and fellow Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson are co-sponsors of
H.R. 26,<br>
which commends the Boise State University football team on its recent
win<br>
against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, he said. He attended the game,
calling<br>
it "an indescribable experience."<br>
<br>
The bill will "probably pass on a consent calendar," he
said. "It will be a<br>
nice piece of congressional history."<br>
<br>
---------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Seeya round town, Moscow.<br>
<br>
Tom Hansen<br>
Moscow, Idaho<br>
<br>
"Forty percent of the mass of every tree in the forest is crude
oil. Stop<br>
and think about that. We call them fossil fuels because they
used to be<br>
live stuff . . . now in the ground is turned into crude oil."<br>
<br>
- Bill Sali (September 21, 2006)</blockquote>
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