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Idaho is a fantastic vision for America |
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September 19, 2016 |
By Senator Mike Crapo
Thank you to the approximately 4,000 Idahoans
who attended the town meetings I held in every
incorporated city in Idaho over the past two
years. Your thoughtful insights reinforce my
belief that the best solutions for good
governing come from the ground up.
The angst in our country is clear. Much of this
frustration is driven by decisions and politics
in Washington, DC. I decided the best thing to
do is to reach out to the entire state and
listen, but not just listen in the traditional
way, through emails, letters, meetings and
calls, although these are all important.
The best way to hear clearly from Idahoans all
across the state is to get in a car and travel
the state. This started about 22 months ago when
I met with my staff and proposed the idea of
visiting every town in Idaho. A member of my
staff suggested starting with incorporated
towns.
We found that Idaho has exactly 200 of them.
The town meetings began in Moyie Springs up
north at a sawmill, listening to workers and
town residents. Each town meeting has opened
with the Pledge of Allegiance to the American
flag, and I shared graphics pertaining to our
national debt. I learned that Idahoans share an
interest in our nation’s financial stability and
do not want to see it become more debt laden,
like Greece or Venezuela.
When I began the town meetings, the nation was
approaching $18 trillion in debt. Today, the
federal debt is nearly $20 trillion, with no end
in sight.
The handmade signs welcoming me to town were
encouraging. I watched as Boy Scouts brought in
the flag, as students in a government class got
off the bus to attend my meeting. I enjoyed
homemade cookies brought to the meetings and the
smiles of mothers, fathers and little children.
From Bear Lake to Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho is a
fantastic vision for America.
Idahoans are intelligent and engaged, and also
worried—worried about maintaining jobs, worried
about our kids, worried about where we are going
as a country and worried we cannot afford where
we are going.
The then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen, made it clear
six years ago in multiple interviews and
speeches that the national debt is the biggest
threat to our nation. I was expecting him to
identify Iran getting a nuclear weapon as the
biggest threat. But his warning makes clear
sense.
The interest on our debt will eventually consume
our budget and devastate our ability to pay for
our national defense and social programs.
We have ways to fix it.
I was a member of the Bowles-Simpson Commission
appointed by the President, and the Senate's
Gang of Six. We drafted plans to reduce spending
and reform programs, including Medicare and
Social Security, headed for insolvency. Idahoans
told me they are interested in seeing these
ideas get a wider discussion. But Washington
seemingly is not listening. We have
breakthroughs with bipartisan legislation:
For example, I served as the lead Republican
sponsor in the bipartisan renewal of the
Violence Against Women Act, improving access to
domestic violence assistance. I worked across
the aisle to enact Trevor’s Law, strengthening
federal coordination in investigating potential
cancer “clusters.”
Bipartisanship has been essential for the
enactment and implementation of the Owyhee
Initiative legislation I championed that
utilized collaborative solutions to natural
resources challenges, and more.
But bipartisan breakthroughs are too few and far
between. Visiting all 200 incorporated towns
made clear that there is no better place to get
national direction than here in Idaho, where
sensibility prevails. |
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