Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, recently moved the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act through committee. The bill addresses the growing, and unaccountable, costs to taxpayers of the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). Simpson is concerned that while EAJA was intended to provide a mechanism for lower and middle income individuals to challenge the actions of an onerous federal government, it has become a slush fund for wealthy extremists in search of taxpayer funding of their unending, and oftentimes frivolous, lawsuits. Here is Simpson spokesperson Nikki Watts  talking about the bill.

Litigation:

“·         The bill makes permanent language requiring litigants to exhaust the administrative appeals process before litigating in federal court on grazing issues.

·         The report also includes language directing the Department of the Interior, the EPA, and the Forest Service to provide the Appropriations Committee with detailed information regarding EAJA payments and to make that information publicly available.  The information required includes:  detailed reports on the amount of program funds used; the names of the fee recipients; the names of the federal judges; the disposition of the applications (including any appeals of action taken on the applications); and the hourly rates of attorneys and expert witnesses stated in the applications that was awarded, for all EAJA fee payments awarded as a result of litigation against any of the Department of Interior bureaus, the EPA, or the Forest Service, or their respective employees.  The report shall also include the amounts, outside of EAJA awards, paid in settlement of such litigation.  Such information will also be included with each agency’s annual budget submission in the future.