U.S Rep. Fulcher stops in Sandpoint

SANDPOINT — During a hiatus from his work in Washington, U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher visited Sandpoint on Wednesday and offered an update on happenings in the nation’s capital. 

Chief among the sentiments Fulcher voiced in an April 23 interview with the Daily Bee was enthusiastic support for President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and the ongoing effort to audit federal programs.

“There is a very significant bureaucratic intervention going on,” said the Republican, who has represented Idaho’s 1st congressional district since 2019. “I can’t underscore it enough — it desperately needs to happen.” 

“The bureaucracies in D.C. have become so huge, and in my opinion, so unaccountable,” he added. “Now, they're having an answer for things.” 

Fulcher listed limiting U.S. spending and developing a federal budget that doesn’t expand the national debt as his current top priorities, and spoke in support of initiatives to eliminate subsidies for electric vehicles and green energy. 

“The market is going to dictate — and I think rightfully so — what energy sources we develop as a nation,” Fulcher said. “A lot of us feel like that's what needs to happen.” 

FILM Act and federal land management 

Fulcher currently sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce as well as the Committee on Natural Resources. In the Wednesday interview, Fulcher said he hopes to transfer some authority for federal land management from federal agencies to states and local entities. 

“Nobody by themself has the resources to manage the mass amounts of public land in Idaho — nobody,” Fulcher added. “Collectively, we have to leverage everybody's help if we're going to do a decent job of land management.” 

Fulcher also voiced concern about potential changes to the Secure Rural Schools program and Payments in Lieu of Taxes, which are designed to help local governments offset losses in property taxes due to the existence of nontaxable federal lands within their boundaries. 

“My colleagues from the Midwest and the East are sick of it,” Fulcher said, adding that because of Idaho’s high proportion of federal land, rural municipalities like Boundary County are likely to lose funding if either program is shrunk or eliminated. 

Fulcher noted that changes to PILT and the SRS program could come up quickly: “This could be thrust upon us, and we have no plan,” he said. 

“This issue is a massive one,” he added. “There needs to be a much more communication with state, local and federal entities and the private sector.” 

Shortly after the current Congress convened in January, Fulcher’s Federal Interior Land Media Act bill was signed into law as part of a larger package stipulating policies related to recreation on public land. 

Fulcher said he was inspired to introduce the bill — which provides exceptions from permitting and fee requirements for photography or video recording on federal land — after public television broadcasters and other entities expressed discontent with the existing rules. 

“I just think, overall, that access and transparency are really important,” Fulcher said. 

Albeni Falls Dam 

In June 2024, Fulcher and U.S. Sens. James Risch and Mike Crapo signed a letter urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to give its initiative to repair the defective spillway gate at Albeni Falls Dam and replace the remaining gates “the highest priority.” 

11 months later, Fulcher said he hasn’t been satisfied with the Corps’ response. 

“I think they’re blowing us off,” Fulcher said, adding that he believes regulations and restrictions are unnecessarily delaying the replacement process. 

In its most recent estimate, the Corps said it expects the first new spillway gate to arrive at the site in 2027, with the remaining nine arriving piecewise in six-month intervals. 

“We're on top of them on a very regular basis,” Fulcher added. “It's just government being government.” 

MAILS Act and the Postal Service 

In January, Fulcher teamed up with Risch, Crapo and Rep. Mike Simpson to introduce the Mandating Advisable and Informed Locations and Solutions Act to the Senate and House of Representatives. 

“It requires local input and provides some transparency for local communities to be able to say, ‘Here's where we want these post offices. Here's where we need them,’” Fulcher explained. 

Calls for major changes at the U.S. Postal Service have been abundant in recent years as the agency has lost billions of dollars annually. In December 2024, then-president-elect Trump suggested privatizing the USPS as a strategy to address cost overruns. 

When asked about his perspective, Fulcher said that in this case, he opposes a complete handoff to the private sector. 

“I'm a little anxious about just saying, ‘privatize it,’ and I typically am a ‘privatize guy,’” Fulcher said. 

He added that because independent companies are motivated by profit, there would be little incentive to provide robust, affordable service in remote areas: “If you totally privatize that, I think you risk alienating a significant part of rural Idaho,” Fulcher said. 

Fulcher noted that while electronic communication has lessened Americans’ reliance on the postal service, the USPS still plays a critical role in certain cases. 

“Grandma is always going to want to send her cookies to the grandkids wherever they are,” he said. “That’s not going to happen digitally.” 

Getting in touch 

In the interview, Fulcher said he welcomes feedback from Panhandle residents, and that he often considers input brought forth by constituents when developing and evaluating policies. 

As an example, Fulcher pointed to H.R. 405: the Keep Every Extra Penny Act. The bill, which aims to eliminate federal income tax on overtime pay, was introduced in the House by Fulcher in January; the congressman said the initiative was originally inspired by a comment he heard during a town hall at former Sandpoint business Kokanee Coffee several years ago. 

“We have no monopoly on wisdom,” Fulcher said. "We want not just the questions, but also the counsel.” 

For Panhandle constituents seeking to raise a question or offer input, Congressman Russ Fulcher recommends reaching out to his Coeur d’Alene office, 1250 West Ironwood Drive Suite 200, at 208-667-0127.