Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey had an interesting look on Sunday at the role Idaho's “two Mikes,” Sen. Mike Crapo and Congressman Mike Simpson, are playing in the current deficit reduction talks in Washington, D.C., at considerable political risk to their own careers. Writes Popkey, “Wise men — from Secretary of State Ben Ysursa to political scientist Jim Weatherby — could cite no previous example of two members of Idaho’s tiny congressional delegation playing leading roles on the major issue of a generation. 'It takes a lot of guts in this highly toxic anti-tax environment,' said Weatherby.” You can read his full column here.

The Rexburg Standard Journal reports today that Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, in a speech to the Rexburg Chamber of Commerce yesterday and in an interview with the paper, said the “Gang of Six” debt reduction plan he helped fashion is “the most powerful solution that's on the table right now” to the nation's fiscal crisis - and if it'd been enacted, the nation wouldn't have seen its credit rating downgraded last week. “I'm absolutely certain that if our proposal had been accepted the downgrade would not have happened,” Crapo said. You can read a full report here from Standard Journal reporter Joseph Law, in which Crapo says, “I personally believe this debt crisis is the most serious threat we've ever faced. I think the American dream is at risk.”
  

Idaho GOP Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have joined with Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Begich of Alaska to introduce legislation today designed to overturn a 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that the four say would subject logging roads in public and private forests “to some of the most stringent environmental protection laws in the United States,” by declaring logging road runoff a point source pollution subject to Clean Water Act permitting requirements. Since 1976, such runoff has been regulated under the EPA's silviculture rule as non-point source pollution. You can read the senators' full statement about the legislation here.

Here's why Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo isn't among the Idaho GOP leaders on Mitt Romney's Idaho steering committee list: “He's not on that letter for Romney because he doesn't generally endorse,” said Crapo's spokesman, Lindsay Nothern. “He wasn't very active in the last go-round with McCain. He's not likely to be on anything in the near future. That's just his style. He's not one that gets in real early.”

Added Nothern, “His rationale is he doesn't like to tell people how to vote, basically. … I would expect he'll sit out for quite a while, if not the whole election.” Crapo wasn't at the Romney fundraiser in Boise today; he's in Washington, D.C. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

The U.S. Senate has voted 81-19 in favor of H.R. 1493, the spending cuts bill that passed the House earlier today, sending the bill to President Obama. Among those 19 “no” votes: Both of Idaho's senators. Lindsay Nothern, press secretary for Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said, “He didn't think the cuts went far enough.” Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, has expressed a similar view.

The bill is identical to the one that passed the House - so it includes Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson's rider lifting endangered species protections from wolves.

Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch said today that legislation to remove wolves from endangered species protection likely won't be considered again this year, after an effort they joined today failed. The two joined senators from Wyoming and Utah to offer a bill for unanimous consent of the Senate, but Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Maryland, objected. That, the two Idaho senators said in a joint statement, “ended consideration of the bill, likely for the rest of this session.” Click below to read their full statement.

For the fourth time in a row, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo has been selected to chair the Senate Republicans’  Committee on Committees - yes, that’s really what it’s called - to handle GOP committee assignments for the 112th Congress. “Mike is a trusted advisor and has the respect of his colleagues,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. “He has a proven track record and the entire Republican conference is honored to have him once again leading our negotiations on committee assignments.” Said Crapo, “I look forward to working to ensure my colleagues have the best possible opportunities to make a mark on the important agenda of the 112th Congress.” Click below to read McConnell’s full press release.

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, released a joint statement today saying they’ll support the recommendations of the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, on which both serve, even while calling them “flawed and incomplete.”  They said, “Everyone in America should be prepared to sacrifice, beginning with politicians in Washington. Everything has to be on the table.”

The two said, “History has not been kind to great nations who borrowed and spent beyond their means. Doing nothing will, sooner rather than later, guarantee that this nation becomes a second-rate power with less opportunity and less freedom. … The time for action is now. We can’t afford to wait until the next election to begin this process.” You can read their full statement here.

The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call has come out with a story about lobbying by Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo’s daughter, Lara; she represents numerous health-care-related interests, the paper reported, including several Idaho medical facilities for which the Idaho Republican has sought earmarks, according to federal lobbying disclosure records. Paul Lee, a former Senate aide and founder of the firm Strategic Health Care, where Lara Crapo serves as government relations director, said the office maintains a strict separation between Crapo and her father’s office. You can read the Roll Call report here.

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press:  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo says his bill to cut taxes for small breweries is gaining support, as evidenced by the addition of 24 co-sponsors. Crapo has joined Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon, as well as Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine, as an original sponsor of this push to halve federal excise taxes for smaller breweries. They contend the break to save small brewers about $3.50 per barrel on their first 60,000 barrels annually will leave them more money to invest in workers and supplies. Crapo, a Republican, will be touting his bill this weekend at the Portneuf Valley Brewing Company in Pocatello, though he won’t be sipping a cold, frothy one: He’s a member of the Mormon church, whose adherents don’t drink alcohol. He will join the Idaho Grain Producers Association to discuss the measure’s benefits to agriculture.

There was a time when then-Idaho Sen. Larry Craig was dubbed the “cybersenator” because he was the first U.S. senator to send out podcasts. Now, it seems, our digital edge in the U.S. Senate has slipped. George Washington University and New York University’s Stern School of Business have completed a joint study that evaluated and ranked every senator for what it dubbed their “digital I.Q.,” or “online competence” based on presence on websites, social media following and sentiment, digital marketing aptitude and search engine optimization skills. Idaho’s results? Sen. Mike Crapo ranked 64th among the 100 senators, and Sen. Jim Risch ranked 93rd.

The top seven senators were dubbed “digital geniuses,” and were led by none other than Sen. John McCain, who famously said “I don’t email” during the 2008 presidential campaign. According to the study, he got his first Blackberry in January 2009 and “took to the Twittersphere,” and he now has 1.7 million Twitter followers and 630,000 Facebook “likes.” The other senators who got the “digital genius” designation were Sens. Jim DeMint, Scott Brown, Al Franken, John Cornyn, Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer. Republicans led Democrats in the study, with an average digital I.Q. 5.5 percent higher than their colleagues across the aisle. “Our thesis is that digital competence provides an opportunity for senators to authentically engage and mobilize voters and constituents,” wrote the two authors of the study, Scott Galloway, clinical associate professor of marketing at NYU Stern, and Doug Guthrie, dean of the George Washington School of Business.

So what’s the designation for our guys? Crapo’s score of 89 (McCain’s was 156) designates his digital I.Q. as “challenged.” And Risch? At a score of 68, he’s dubbed “feeble.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is coming to both Boise and Coeur d’Alene this week, to host sessions at the Boise and Coeur d’Alene chambers on exports, trade and job creation. The Boise session, set for Wednesday from 8 to 11 a.m., will feature U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, along with chamber officials and federal farm services and Small Business Administration officials. The CdA session, set for Thursday from 8-9:30 a.m., will feature 1st District Congressman Walt Minnick, along with U.S. Chamber officials. Both will focus on potential job growth for Idaho if Congress passes the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, along with information on how Idaho businesses can grow through exports and trade.

Bobby Maldonado, U.S. Chamber spokesman, said the events are part of a national push that’s included events in Illinois, Michigan, New York and Ohio.

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo is co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation - along with Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. - to halve the federal excise taxes smaller craft breweries pay, a move his office says “would benefit Idaho brewers and farmers and could boost employment and commerce.” The break for craft brewers also could boost ag products like hops and barley, Crapo said, along with production at growing craft breweries like Laughing Dog Brewery east of Sandpoint. On Monday, Crapo will visit and tour Laughing Dog and discuss the legislation.