Former US Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming Dies at 93

Simpson, who served three terms in the US Senate from 1979 to 1997, was a towering Republican figure alongside fellow Wyoming politician Dick Cheney. Unlike the former vice president, Simpson was renowned for his quick humor and memorable quips, including his famous line: "We have two political parties in this country, the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. I belong to the Stupid Party."

As a key Senate leader during the Reagan administration, Simpson played a crucial role in rallying Republican senators around the party's legislative agenda. However, he was perhaps better known for maintaining his own independent viewpoints, including his support for abortion rights—a position that contributed to his gradual fade from prominence within the evolving Republican Party.

Simpson maintained close friendships across the aisle, including with Democrats Robert Reich, Clinton's labor secretary, and Norman Mineta, transportation secretary under George W. Bush. His relationship with Mineta began during World War II when they met as Boy Scouts while Mineta and his family were imprisoned in the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center near Simpson's hometown of Cody, Wyoming.

After leaving politics, Simpson worked to promote awareness of the wartime incarceration of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans. In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Simpson to co-lead a debt-reduction commission that developed a $4 trillion savings plan through tax increases and spending cuts, though the proposal ultimately failed to gain sufficient congressional support.

In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded Simpson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, recognizing his lifelong contributions to public service and his ability to work across party lines during an increasingly polarized political era.