DENVER, Colorado, Feb. 25 -- Sen. Michael F. Bennet, D-Colorado, issued the following news release: Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) in reintroducing the Major Richard Star Act, a bipartisan bill to provide full military benefits to combat-injured veterans with less than 20 years of military service. Currently, only veterans with disability ratings above 50 percent and more than 20 years of service ar  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, issued the following statement on Feb. 21, 2023: * * * Over the years, Idaho's farmers, ranchers, and small businesses have sounded the alarm about efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to redefine what waters are regulated under the Clean Water Act. While I support the goal of safeguarding a clean water supply for our nation, I can see this effort for what it is--an attempt to expand federal control over how landowners use thei  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 -- Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.) introduced the Build the Wall Now Act, which would require border wall construction to restart within 24 hours of the bill's enactment, remove all legal impediments to construction, and unlock $2.1 billion in unspent wall funding. Senate co-sponsors include Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Cra  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 -- Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), along with Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and all Senate Finance Committee Republicans, introduced legislation to prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from using its $80 billion infusion of taxpayer dollars included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to squeeze more revenue out of hardworking taxpayers who earn less t  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), joined a bipartisan resolution - led by Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) recognizing Russia's war in Ukraine as genocide. Putin's unprovoked war in Ukraine has included forced deportations and the deliberate killing of Ukrainian civilians resulting in mass atrocities, constituting a genocide against the   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 -- Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and a group of 25 Senate colleagues reintroduced the Hearing Protection Act (HPA). The bill would reclassify suppressors to regulate them like regular firearms. "Guns with suppressors are still very loud, just less likely to cause permanent ear damage," said Dr. Cassidy. "Anyone who thinks suppressors are movie 'silencers' clearly has never shot   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following news release and letter: U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Missouri) and U.S. House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington) are requesting detailed information from top government health officials regarding the $3 billion drug price-setting implementation fund   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) joined Senate Republican colleagues in reintroducing a constitutional amendment to limit the Supreme Court to nine justices. "Packing the Supreme Court and increasing its size would open the Court to more partisan infiltration and present greater challenges to fairly and constitutionally settling judicial cases impacting Americans," said Crapo. "Protecting our nation's constitu  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 -- Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and 26 of her Senate colleagues reintroduced the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) this month, legislation that would reclassify suppressors to regulate them like a regular firearm. The measure would benefit Nebraska's recreational gun users and provide them better access to hearing protection equipment. U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) led the introduction of the bill. "Nebra  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, issued the following news release and letter: Due to the size and scope of the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project and the accompanying draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), as well as continued stakeholder concerns, Idaho's Congressional Delegation sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requesting a 30-day extension of the comment period for the DEIS. "In January, the BLM released the Lava Ridge DEIS for a 60-day public c  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) slammed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their ill-advised guidance on the unfair use of dairy terms to mislabel plant-based products. The FDA's draft guidance, "Labeling of Plant-based Milk Alternatives and Voluntary Nutrient Statement," allows plant-based products to continue to use dairy terms despite not containing dairy, nor having the  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) joined Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance, and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to introduce the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, which will block future progressive political attempts to force the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect private information  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, issued the following news release on Feb. 21, 2023: U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a constitutional amendment to limit the Supreme Court to no more than nine justices. The Supreme Court has had nine justices since 1869. "The Supreme Court has stood as a nonpartisan institution for over 150 years. Now, Democrats are threatening to politicize it by packing the Court with leftist appointees who will further t  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, issued the following column on Feb. 20, 2023: * * * Tax Policy That Will Fuel A Healthier Idaho Economy I am honored to continue to serve Idahoans as Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee in the 118th Congress. The Finance Committee has the largest jurisdiction of any congressional committee, overseeing all tax policy and giving Idaho a pivotal role in affecting policy shaping our nation's economy. As this Congress gets underway,   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recently joined Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) in introducing the Preventing Adversary Influence, Disinformation and Obscured Foreign Financing (PAID OFF) Act, which would help close Foreign Agents Registration Act loopholes that al  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following news release on Feb. 24, 2023: U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement after the Biden Administration altered the U.S. Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) policy: "Our nation faces growing th  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on Feb. 23, 2023: * * * U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia's brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022: "In the year since Putin's second unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russia has committed unspeakable atro  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following remarks at a Feb. 15, 2023, confirmation hearing for Daniel I. Werfel to be commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service: * * * "Mr. Werfel, thank you for your willingness to serve and answer our questions. "The IRS exists solely to serve taxpayers and fairly administer tax laws. The Internal Revenue Code requires the IRS Commissioner, and all IRS employees, to 'act in accord'  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release and letter: U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and James Lankford (R-Okla.) recently sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Martin Walsh requesting an update on the Biden administration's efforts to recover fraudulent benefits obtained   more