Press Releases

Our trade agreements and rules must be upheld to better ensure Idaho and American softwood lumber companies and workers can compete in a just market.

The costs of catastrophic wildfires over the past decade have grown significantly. Those costs have taken funding intended for the management of our public lands. This Act protects that funding and allows foresters and other land managers to clear the backlog of projects to better protect and preserve our public lands.

This is the right thing to do. When funds are budgeted for forest fire mitigation that is where they need to be spent. There is a real need for those funds here in the western states. It is not acceptable to have bait-and-switch tactics used with the taxpayers' dollar with any funds. This amendment puts a stop to it in this instance. Assigning nearly three million dollars in forest fire money to Washington, D.C. is exactly the kind of wasteful spending I feared when Congress bypassed the regular committee process in its rush to pass the Stimulus bill.

One of my first votes as a U.S. Senator was against the release of the second half of TARP funding. This program has never worked as it was originally set up. Instead of taking troubled assets off the books of banks, it has been used to purchase stock in companies like Chrysler and GM and to finance bonuses at other banks.

Idahoans have told me time and again they do not want a government takeover of their health care delivery and that is exactly what this proposal is. This plan costs nearly one-trillion dollars, it raises taxes on America's families and small businesses and no one understands the consequences of acting on it. If we want responsible health care reform, we need to scrap all of the current proposals, slow the process down, focus on the component parts and, most importantly, understand the consequences of any changes before they are enacted. The reform also needs to be bi-partisan-something every proposal to

Over the past decade we have seen positive signs that habitat improvement and other efforts are working to restore salmon and steelhead in the Northwest. The new Administration's support of the current BiOp Plan is welcome news. I agree with the president that we should do everything we can to save salmon before anyone even considers a discussion of dam breaching. The recovery plan negotiated by the many groups with a stake in viable salmon populations should be allowed to move forward. A discussion of breaching at this point is divisive and frustrates efforts we all agree upon. Collaboration has

“Eight years ago today the United States was attacked by terrorists who caused the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children, along with hundreds of first responders. It is important to all Americans we remember that day and honor the memory of those who died. We must also honor those who work each day to keep our country safe. Many are putting their lives at risk to prevent another attack on our soil. To all of them we give our thanks for their service.”

The contracts awarded to Idaho researchers and companies show the important role our state continues to play in national defense through the development of equipment and technologies that make the jobs of our military men and women more effective and safe.

As always the President delivered an excellent speech. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. He promised us in the speech that he would give us details, but none were forthcoming. The President continues to promote the false choice of a complete government takeover or doing nothing. We actually have another choice, targeting specific areas of our current system to make coverage affordable to all. We need to break down the specific areas and pass legislation that will actually fix problems. And we must know the consequences of that legislation for Idahoans before it is implemented.

I am pleased that the judge has allowed wolf hunting in Idaho to continue, and I hope this brings an end to lawsuits opposing the hunt. Wolf numbers have far exceeded the recovery goals set when they were introduced into the state. It is time to let Idaho's game managers do their job and manage wolves just as they do bears, cats and other species.