Idaho Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo were on opposite sides of the outcome as the U. S. Senate Wednesday night passed a version of the $700 billion financial industry bailout.

The Senate easily passed the measure on a 74-25 vote, and leaders in the House say GOP opposition in that chamber that defeated the plan on Monday has lessened.

The rescue package lets the government spend billions of dollars to buy bad mortgage-related securities and other devalued assets held by troubled financial institutions. If successful, advocates say that would allow frozen credit to begin flowing again and prevent a deep recession.

Sen. Craig voted in favor of the measure after the Senate added $110 billion in tax breaks for businesses and the middle class, plus a provision to raise, from $100,000 to $250,000, the cap on federal deposit insurance. As revised by the Senate, the package extends several tax breaks popular with businesses. It would keep the alternative minimum tax from hitting 20 million middle-income Americans and provide $8 billion in tax relief for those hit by natural disasters in the Midwest, Texas and Louisiana.

However, Sen. Crapo voted against the plan, saying he wasn’t convinced that taxpayers were adequately protected.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

Northwest lawmakers were split evenly on the vote, as Craig, Washington Democrat Patty Murray and Oregon Republican Gordon Smith voted yes, while Crapo, Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, and Oregon Republican Ron Wyden voted no. (AP)

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell has blocked three nominations to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, saying that the federal agency has failed to regulate oil markets even as the price of gas hits new highs almost daily.

The Washington Democrat’s action came as the Senate began debate Thursday on a bill designed to rein in speculation on the markets in which crude oil futures are traded. Cantwell and others think that speculators have driven up the price of oil and could be responsible for more than one-dollar of the cost of a gallon of gasoline at the pump.

Though some Republicans are sympathetic to the need to provide tighter control over energy markets, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig says that any energy legislation should include lifting the congressional moratorium on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas.

US Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) comments

Cantwell and most Democrats oppose lifting the offshore-drilling ban, citing the Department of Energy as saying that offshore oil and gas wells wouldn’t come online for seven to 10 years. (McClatchy)

Idaho Republican Senate candidate Jim Risch has a four-to-one cash advantage over Democrat Larry LaRocco in the race to replace outgoing Sen. Larry Craig.

Risch (pictured at left) has just over $1 million, while LaRocco has $242,229.

In Idaho’s 2nd District congressional race, Republican incumbent Mike Simpson had $135,000, to just $1,600 for Democrat Debbie Holmes.

Walt Minnick, the Democrat challenging GOP Representative Bill Sali in the 1st District, had about $400,000 in cash - figures for Sali weren’t immediately available. (AP)

Idaho’s congressional delegation is hailing Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Americans have a constitutional right to keep guns in their homes for self-defense, the justices’ first major pronouncement on gun control in U.S. history.

The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) says the Court made the right decision.

US Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) comments

Fellow U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and First District Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho) also backed the decision.

The court also struck down Washington D.C.’s requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.

The NRA says it will file lawsuits in San Francisco, Chicago and several of its suburbs challenging handgun restrictions there based on Thursday’s outcome. (AP)

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) on Wednesday reintroduced an amendment to the emergency supplemental appropriations bill to extend the county timber payments program.

The one-year, $400 million extension would secure funding for over 775 counties and 4,400 school districts across 42 states while Congress works on a multi-year solution.

The original Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act established a six-year payment formula for counties that receive revenue sharing payments for U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands. The formula, based on timber receipts, provides a dedicated funding stream for rural schools which cannot collect property taxes from national parks, U.S. forests and other public lands.

Craig’s amendment would restore the county payments legislation to the supplemental bill that was passed by the House last week.

US Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) comments

In addition to war funding, the House-approved bill includes veterans’ provisions as well as disaster relief for flooding in the Midwest. The full Senate is expected to consider the legislation this week.

U.S. Senator Larry Craig was on the Senate floor Wednesday, addressing rising gas prices and pushing for drilling for more crude oil in untapped areas, particularly in Cuban waters. The Idaho Republican says inaction in Congress, in large part, is to blame for high prices in the marketplace.

US Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) comments

Craig pointed to 20 year-old surveys that show there are an estimated 115 billion barrels of oil and 633 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources in the Outer Continental Shelf. The U.S. Geological Survey suspects 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of gas are in Cuban waters. Countries such as Canada, India, Norway, Vietnam, Venezuela, and Spain are already exploring for oil and purchasing leases in Cuban waters, while Craig says Congress continues to prohibit U.S. involvement in those activities.

Craig continues

Last month, Craig introduced the Domestic Offshore Energy Security Act, which opens the Eastern Gulf for production in federal waters from 125 miles off shore to 45 miles, the same distance from the United States that Cuba is currently leasing for production to countries other than the U.S.