In our delegation’s words…

A new project that tracks word usage in the Congressional Record shows that the most-used word by our current senior senator, GOP Sen. Mike Crapo, in the past year was “energy,” followed by, in order, “Idahoans,” “stories,” and “prices.” For 2nd District GOP Rep. Mike Simpson, the top word was “Idaho,” followed by “research,” “account,” and “systems.” Does this tell us something of where their minds and efforts in Congress lie? The word sample is smaller for our two newest members of the delegation, but the top word for GOP Sen. Jim Risch is “guard,” followed by “equipment,” “billion” and “reserve.” For Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick, the top word was “Idaho,” followed by “water,” “community” and “honor.”

And for the two members no longer serving, but still within the sample? Interestingly, the most-used word in the past year by both then-Sen. Larry Craig and then-Rep. Bill Sali was the same word: “Oil.” You can see the Sunlight Foundation’s project, “Capitol Words: Taking Congress at its word,” online here .