Senator Mike Crapo Reports to the Food Producers of Idaho - ICIE's Saturday Summary 2/21/09

The Saturday Summary is a weekly roundup of some of ICIE’s activities in and around the Idaho Legislature. Staffing limits mean we can’t cover every meeting. If there’s an item of interest to you at an upcoming meeting of one of the environment or agriculture committees, let us know and we’ll try to cover it. Agendas are available at www.state.id.us. Click on “Legislative” and click on “Calendars and agendas.”

Senator Mike Crapo spent some time with members of Food Producers of Idaho at their Wednesday meeting. Following is a summary of the discussion:

He explained that he did not vote for President Obama’s stimulus package. It will cost $1.1 trillion when interest is added. This is more money than 30 years of the space program and double the amount spent on the entire New Deal. It is supposed to be targeted to stimulate the economy and is based on the premise that we can spend our way into prosperity.

According to the Senator, these are borrowed dollars and most economists agree that in the long term, this will restrict our future capital supply.

He has heard no specifics from the new administration yet on immigration. The Democrats in Congress are leaning toward a wide-open system of immigration that grants amnesty to all illegal aliens and allows for broader immigration. Senator Crapo does not believe in amnesty for illegal aliens. He would rather have a guest worker program in which they can apply for citizenship or transition back to their own countries.

There are kinks in the e-verify system for checking on legal status of workers. These need to be worked out before it is required and should be part of reworking the entire immigration system. The Democrats took it out of the stimulus package.

Sen. Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate banking committee, is interested in significant reform of the financial regulatory system.

EPA is getting more aggressive with a new enforcement mentality. Senator Crapo is a member of the Environment & Public Works Committee which has oversight over EPA; however, the chairman of the committee is Senator Barbara Boxer of California and supports these stepped up enforcement activities. The Senator summed it up by saying that big government is back and we can expect increase federal intervention and regulation.