Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), member and former chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, issued the following statement after the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced it will begin accepting new Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications to assist farmers, ranchers, and small agricultural businesses. “As the devastating impacts of the […]

BOISE, Idaho — U.S. Senator Jim Risch, member and former chairman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, joined 21 of his Senate colleagues in a bipartisan letter to Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Jovita Carranza, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), urging the agencies to provide […]

Idaho counties will receive $23.9 million in federal funds for schools BOISE, Idaho – Members of Idaho’s congressional delegation and State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth say Idaho counties will receive a total of $23.9 million in payments this year under the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. The funds are administered through the U.S. Forest Service and based on […]

BOISE, Idaho – Representative Mike Simpson co-led a bipartisan letter signed by 126 members in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Representative Russ Fulcher.  Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch joined the same effort in the U.S. Senate requesting the President to eliminate payment limits for specialty crop, livestock, and dairy producers before the final Coronavirus Food […]

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), and Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) led a bipartisan group of 22 other senators on a letter calling for the Senate to finally provide much-needed financial certainty during the COVID-19 crisis for rural communities to ensure long-term funding needed for essential services. In […]

BOISE, Idaho – Today, U.S. Senator Jim Risch released the following statement commending the Senate’s passage of “Phase 3.5” of emergency coronavirus legislation to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program and provide additional relief to health care providers: “Small businesses need every possible tool in the toolbox to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Paycheck Protection Program […]

BOISE, Idaho – Today, U.S. Senator for Idaho Jim Risch and the Idaho Department of Commerce announced the creation of “Support Local Gems,” which will serve as an all-day event to support Idaho small businesses whose operations have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. On Friday, April 24th, 2020, Idahoans are invited to Support Local […]

BOISE, Idaho – Today, U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urging the swift distribution of education assistance funds in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to Idaho’s colleges and universities. “As you know, students, teachers, parents and faculty of America’s higher education institutions are […]

BOISE, Idaho – Idaho’s congressional delegation today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue calling for special attention to Idaho’s agricultural industry, which is experiencing great economic disruption due to COVID-19. Idaho is home to 25,000 farms and 185 commodities, many of which are seeing severe impacts to the farm, processing, and […]

BOISE, Idaho – Today, President Donald J. Trump announced that Idaho’s U.S. Senators, Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, will serve with a bipartisan group of congressional colleagues on the White House’s Opening Up America Again Congressional Group. The congressional group, in consultation with America’s governors and the administration, will work to develop guidelines on re-opening the economy […]