Idaho Sen. Jim Risch refused to vote on Congress’s $1.3 trillion spending plan until leadership removed a provision renaming the Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness, according to multiple media outlets.
CNN reports Risch was willing to hold up the bill – which needed to pass by Friday to avoid a government shutdown – because the wilderness area would’ve been renamed after the late Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus.
Andrus, a political rival to Idaho’s junior senator, died last August at age 85 due to cancer.
Risch refused to comment on the issue when questioned by reporters. “No. What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand? . . . Do I have a problem with my English? I don’t have any comment,” he said, according to the Washington Post.
An attempt to reach Risch's staff late Thursday night by Boise State Public Radio wasn’t immediately returned.
The stalemate continued from Thursday afternoon until later that night.
At one point, Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker stepped forward to declare the entire late-night scene "ridiculous. It's juvenile."
Eventually, the provision renaming the wilderness area after Andrus was removed. Shortly thereafter, the Senate signed off on the spending plan that will fund the federal government through September.
Congressman Mike Simpson has been behind the push to rename the wilderness area after Andrus since his death. Simpson’s staff didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Both men tried for years to preserve the pristine mountainous area in Central Idaho by designating it as wilderness – the strictest form of protection under federal law – but were repeatedly rebuffed.
In 2015, President Obama signed a bill setting more than 275,000 acres of the White Clouds as wilderness.
Even though senators ultimately dumped the name change, the move would need approval from the House, which had already adjourned.
Citing sources familiar with the conversations, Roll Call reports the House probably won’t side with Risch, meaning Simpson’s efforts will likely go through.
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