Mike Simpson


 * This article is about politician Michael Simpson. For other people with this name, see Michael Simpson (disambiguation).

Michael Keith "Mike" Simpson, D.D.S. (born September 8, 1950 in Burley, Idaho), has been a Republican United States Representative from Idaho since 1999. Simpson represents Idaho's 2nd congressional district.

Simpson was educated at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and the Washington University School of Dental Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Simpson practiced dentistry in Blackfoot, Idaho, before entering the U.S. House.

Simpson was elected to the Blackfoot City Council in 1980. In 1984 he was elected to the first of seven terms in the Idaho State House of Representatives. In 1993 he became the Idaho State House speaker.

Career in the United States House of Representatives
Simpson entered the 1998 campaign for the U.S. House seat vacated by Mike Crapo, who was running for United States Senate. He defeated former Democratic Congressman Richard H. Stallings in the general election. Simpson did not face serious opposition in 2002 and 2004. In 2006 Simpson defeated former Democratic state representative Jim D. Hansen, son of former Republican Congressman Orval H. Hansen, to win reelection.

Simpson is on the House Appropriations Committee, and serves on the subcommittees for Energy and Water Development, and the Subcommittee for Labor Health and Human Services. He also serves on the House Budget Committee.

Simpson's hallmark legislation in the House of Representatives has been the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA) and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judgeship and Reorganization Act.

On October 7, 2005, Simpson served as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the House and presided over the vote on a gasoline security bill. Opponents of the bill charge that the legislation did little to help gas prices and merely provided tax breaks to oil companies. Simpson was presiding over the chamber during a vote that was scheduled to last 5 minutes, but stretched to 44 minutes. Simpson did not close the vote until a sufficient number of Republicans had been convinced to switch their votes. In the end, the majority voted in the affirmative to pass the bill by a 2-vote margin: 212-210, with 13 representatives not voting. The nay votes were from 196 Democrats, 13 Republicans, and 1 Independent.