WASHINGTON, July 23 -- Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following opening statement on July 22 at a hearing on advancing U.S. competition with China: "Thank you all for coming today - I want to thank all of you for being here. It is an honor to have Deputy Secretary of State Steve Biegun here today to testify on U.S. policy regarding the People's Republic of China. I had originally planned to hold this hearing back in March. However, the ne  more

BOISE, Idaho, July 25 -- Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on July 24: U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement after the administration announced it would modernize drone export rules in relation to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an agreement between the United States and 34 other nations that aims to restrict the prolifera  more

WASHINGTON, July 23 -- Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: Legislation authored by Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson passed the House of Representatives by a large bipartisan vote of 310-107. The bill permanently funds the existing Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) which increases access to public lands. The bill also maintains public lands by creating a new fund to address the backlog of deferred maintenance in National Parks, National Forests, Bureau of Land Mana  more

WASHINGTON, July 23 -- Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following news release on July 22: U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Todd Young (R-Ind.) today introduced the Strengthening Trade, Regional Alliances, Technology, and Economic and Geopolitical Initiatives Concerning China Act (The STRATEGIC Act) to advance a comprehensive strategy for  more

WASHINGTON, July 22 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, issued the following remarks on July 21 at an executive session to vote on the nominations of Judy Shelton and Christopher Waller, to be Fed board members: "Today, the Committee will vote on the nominations of The Honorable Dr. Judy Shelton, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and Dr. Christopher Waller, to be a Member of the Board of Governor  more

WASHINGTON, July 22 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, issued the following remarks on July 21 in a virtual hearing to consider the nominations of Hester Peirce and Caroline Crenshaw to be members of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Kyle Hauptman to be a member of the National Credit Union Administration Board: "This morning, we will hear testimony on the nominations of The Honorable Hester Peirce, of Ohio, to be a Member   more

WASHINGTON, July 21 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, issued the following column: Requiring Americans to prove their property should not have been taken by the government, rather than the government proving guilt, undermines our system of justice. Commonsense restraints must be instituted to protect against civil asset forfeiture abuses. I am again backing legislation to address problems with civil asset forfeiture. According to a March 2017 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General repor  more

WASHINGTON, July 23 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Strengthening Trade, Regional Alliances, Technology, and Economic and Geopolitical Initiatives Concerning China Act (the STRATEGIC Act) to advance a comprehensive strategy for U.S. competition with the People's Republic of China (PRC). "The Chinese Communist Party is re-shaping the international order to benefi  more

WASHINGTON, July 21 -- Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following op-ed, which was published in The New York Times: Earlier this month in the United Nations Security Council, the world saw a preview of what Russian and Chinese global "leadership" looks like: a world order where the most vulnerable suffer for the political gains of those at the top. Twice, Russia and China vetoed U.N. resolutions which would have ensured that lifesaving hum  more

WASHINGTON, July 22 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) released the following statements after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released its final rule updating regulations implemented under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). In June 2019, Risch, Barrasso, Cramer, and Daines introduced the UPDATE PURPA Act ( S. 1760).  more

WASHINGTON, July 25 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators for Idaho Mike Crapo and Jim Risch voted in support of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to support our military personnel and their families and strengthen our national defense strategy. This is the 60th consecutive year that Congress has fulfilled its constitutional duty to "provide for the common defense." "This bipartisan NDAA signals to our nation's heroes in  more

WASHINGTON, July 22 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), senior member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sent a bipartisan letter to U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette encouraging him to engage with developers and providers of bulk power system equipment throughout the agency's efforts to protect the security and  more

WASHINGTON, July 24 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators for Idaho Jim Risch and Mike Crapo voted in support of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to support our military personnel and their families and strengthen our national defense strategy. This is the 60th consecutive year that Congress has fulfilled its constitutional duty to "provide for the common defense." "In recent weeks and months, we have seen the United S  more

WASHINGTON, July 23 -- Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) introduced the Strengthening Trade, Regional Alliances, Technology, and Economic and Geopolitical Initiatives Concerning China Act (The STRATEGIC Act) to advance a comprehensive strategy for U.S. competition with the People's Republic of China (PRC). "The Chinese Communist Party has presented the United States  more