Press Releases

We are in steady contact with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. offices in Port-au-Prince regarding the holding of the 10 Americans, many of them from Idaho. We are working with the State Department to monitor the safety of these Idahoans and to make sure they have adequate food, water, medical care and proper housing. We hope for their return to the United States as quickly as possible.

I strongly oppose the increase in the debt limit to $14.3 trillion. This debt is equivalent to $40,000 for every person in the United States. This was a straight party line vote and puts off having to raise it again until after the November elections. This increase is troubling because there is no plan in place to get our spending under control. At this rate our debt will double in 5 years and triple in 10.

“This legislation gives the Forest Service another tool to protect some of the most rugged and scenic parcels of lands in all of Idaho while balancing the rights of those who used the land before it became wilderness area.”

I was stunned by his continued push to enact a tax-increasing, premium-increasing and Medicare-reducing health care bill that the vast majority of Americans said they don't want. I really thought after last week's election in the most liberal state in America he would get it. He doesn't.

In the last year, we have seen stimulus packages costing nearly $1 trillion, multi-billion-dollar bailouts, buyouts of private companies and trillion-dollar deficits. Federal agency budgets that were not approved last year received generous increases early this year. Those same budgets for next year are, once again, slated for large increases. The new administration has not even been on the job one year and we are already raising the debt limit for a second time, and this extension is only expected to buy another two months. It is time the federal government learns from the states and balances its budget instead

America needs and deserves real health care reform, but this bill is not it. This law spends $2.5 trillion; raises insurance premiums; increases the cost of health care and, more importantly, robs almost half of a trillion dollars from Medicare, further endangering the entire medical system. To pass this bill, the Democratic leadership literally bought Democrat votes using our money. Sixty-one percent of Americans, and an ever higher percentage of Idahoans, do not want this.

“I congratulate each of these nominees on their selection to compete for entrance to one of our military academies. We had outstanding young men and women from throughout the state who are willing to become leaders and defenders of our great nation. The educational opportunities and leadership training the academies provide will benefit those who are selected for their entire lives. I wish them well as they take the next step in gaining admittance to one of our military academies. Congratulations!”

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Jim Risch has hired Chris Socha as his new legislative director. Socha most recently served as senior policy advisor to U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and will support Risch’s legislative priorities-particularly those related to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources and Foreign Relations committees. He replaces Corey McDaniel who has […]

We always like to see the impetus of plans like this come from the state as opposed to the banks of the Potomac. In Idaho we did it with 9.3 million acres of roadless areas. That process worked by carefully listening to concerns and finding ways to incorporate different visions into the final product. I am optimistic the same spirit exists for this legislation.

The President's announcement to commit one billion dollars so other countries can manage their forests is offensive. First, America does not have an ‘extra billion dollars.' We would need to borrow it from the Chinese. Second, the President cannot make an appropriation commitment, only the Congress can appropriate. Third, our public forests here at home are in desperate need of restorative work and maintenance. That work includes watershed maintenance, fuel-load reductions and the eradication of a beetle infestation that plagues much of the West. We simply cannot send money to other countries so they can manage their forests when we