U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch are addressing both the Idaho House and Senate today, and both are issuing strong warnings about their concerns over the $18 trillion national debt, which Crapo called “the greatest threat to our national security.” He said, “We’ll collapse our economy if we don’t do something about it. … The problem is that spending is too high.” Risch said, “Mike and I and a handful of others think this is a real crisis for this country.” He said, “It’s a bleak picture.”

The two senators arrived in the Idaho Senate together, where both previously served as president pro-tem. Crapo told the Senate, “There are not two senators in the United States Senate who are better friends, but even more than that, better coordinated in their ... philosophy and voting than Jim Risch and myself. We literally talk to each other before every vote … and we work it out like 99 percent of the time. ... We want to make sure that Idaho gets two votes for whatever the issue is.”

Crapo said that now that Republicans have won a majority in the Senate, “The right agenda is now on the floor of the Senate.”

Risch said, “I spend a good share of my time on Middle East issues, the pot’s boiling over there, it’s always boiling over there. The newest threat of course is ISIS. … We thought Al Qaeda was bad. It turns out those people were choir boys compared to what ISIS has done.” He said, “Nobody wants boots on the ground over there.” Risch said he thinks the military can accomplish its objectives without that.