House Speaker Paul Ryan and other members of Congress aren't the only ones blaming President Obama for the lack of progress they've made on their legislative agenda.
During a telephone interview Thursday, Idaho Rep. Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, blamed the president of the United States for her inability to pass legislation overturning U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
“My people in Shoshone County want me to deal with the EPA,” she said. “But as long as we have this president, I'm not going to get anywhere with my bills.”
McMillan is currently running for a fourth consecutive term representing the 7th Legislative District. During her first three terms she never carried a bill that made it out of committee.
In 2014, she proposed legislation that would have blocked enforcement of all water quality standards in the state. When the committee asked why the bill was drafted that way, she said “because I took it to Legislative Services and this is what they gave me.”
The committee declined to even introduce the measure.
That was the last time McMillan proposed any legislation of her own, although she has signed on as co-sponsor for a number of other bills.
“I'm just as effective as anyone (in the Legislature),” she said Thursday. “Putting my name on a bill is just as important as carrying a bill myself.”
McMillan is being challenged in the May 17 Republican primary by Priscilla Giddings of White Bird, who served three combat tours in the Middle East as a pilot with the U.S. Air Force.
