The full U.S. Senate will consider legislation backed by Idaho Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo that clears the way for firearms to be legally transported and carried across federally-owned lands.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted on Thursday to advance the measure geared towards freeing gun owners from conflicting regulations regarding firearms in national parks and fish and wildlife refuges.

Last December, Sen. Crapo sent a letter to Interior Secretary and former Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne requesting that the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service remove the firearms restrictions, and defer instead to state gun laws, which is currently the practice of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

In April, Kempthorne proposed regulations that would permit law-abiding gun owners to transport and carry firearms in national parks and fish and wildlife refuges in states that permit doing so on their analogous public lands. That was followed by a comment period that ended on July 30, and Interior officials expect final comments on the rule to put it into effect by Nov. 1.

U.S. Senate Democrats have promised a series of votes next week on offshore oil drilling as Republicans – including Idaho’s Mike Crapo - agreed to let the Senate proceed on a defense bill that had been bottled up because of partisan disputes over the country’s energy priorities.

Democratic leaders say they are ready to take up two proposals that would allow limited oil and gas drilling 50 miles off Florida’s Gulf coast and in the Atlantic off four southeastern states as well as a broader Republican drilling bill.

The Senate on Monday voted unanimously to move ahead with the defense bill as Republicans abandoned their filibuster on the measure that authorizes $612.5 billion in military spending, including $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sen. Crapo says the GOP’s move was a break from the pattern established during the past month that Congress was in session.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

The issue of offshore oil drilling gained momentum during the Republican convention where presidential nominee John McCain called for opening currently off-limits waters to energy development as soon as possible. His Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, also has signaled support for some additional expansion of offshore drilling as part of a broader energy package. (AP)

U.S. Senator Mike Crapo wants officials with the U.S. Department of Justice to explain why a highly-effective program dealing with juvenile crime and violence was not funded by the department for Fiscal Year 2007.

The program in question is the National Partnership for Juvenile Services, which uses federal grant dollars to coordinate technical assistance and training for personnel and authorities in the fields of juvenile justice and corrections.

Crapo notes that Justice Department staff rated it second out of over 100 groups applying for grant dollars, yet the program was not funded.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

Since 2001 in Idaho alone, the juvenile justice community has used the funding to provide over 23,000 training hours to staff and trainers at its juvenile justice facilities.

Crapo, a member of the Senate Budget Committee and longtime advocate for programs seeking to stop domestic violence and teen dating violence, has written a letter to the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention asking for a response within 30 days.

U.S. Senator Mike Crapo is making his way around the state of Idaho during the Senate’s August recess to talk to residents and gather input and find out what is on their minds.

The Idaho Falls Republican was in Lewiston on Wednesday and says that, not surprisingly, high gasoline prices and energy policy are at the forefront of the discussions.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

Crapo and other Republicans have been pushing for off-shore drilling, exploration in ANWR, and other methods of domestic oil production. However, no bills have been brought to the floor that would bring about a national discussion on the best way to approach the nation’s energy crisis. Crapo says the difficulty of passing any significant legislation this session is exacerbated by the 2008 election year.

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The Senator says Idahoans are also concerned about Endangered Species Act reform and the protection status of wolves in the state.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee who helped craft the 2008 Farm Bill, will host a townhall-style meeting via telephone on Wednesday, Aug. 6, to discuss the new Farm Bill.

Crapo will utilize a telephone and Internet program known as the iTownhall to lead the discussion with up to several thousand Idahoans simultaneously.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

The iTownhall meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Pacific Time and run for about 90 minutes. Calls are placed to participants starting about 10 minutes before the scheduled start time of the meeting. To sign up or for more information, visit crapo.senate.gov.

Some follow-up meetings are planned around Idaho with members of Crapo’s staff for further discussions about Farm Bill programs. The meetings are planned for September 17th through the 24th, and details will be available at Crapo’s website.

U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, have introduced legislation to change the way federal excise taxes on firearms and ammunition are collected from businesses, including ATK.

Supporters of the legislation, including national sporting and firearms advocacy groups, say the legislation could provide more money for state wildlife preservation programs by easing restrictions surrounding the collection of the excise taxes. Crapo says federal law requires manufacturers of sporting arms and ammunition to pay excise taxes into the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Fund.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

The Crapo-Baucus legislation amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require quarterly, not bi-weekly, tax payments.

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Supporters of the legislation include Ducks Unlimited, the National Rifle Association, and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. Similar legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

U.S. Senator Mike Crapo is calling on his Senate colleagues to seek a balanced, bipartisan solution to the high energy prices facing the country.

The Idaho Republican says current legislation that focuses solely on energy speculators in financial markets needs to be augmented with aggressive plans for new energy production, conservation and alternative energy efforts.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

Crapo noted that 86 billion barrels of oil may be untapped off the nation’s shores, or nearly eight times the amount of oil imported to the U.S. from the Persian Gulf over the last 15 years.

Oil shale deposits in Western states could total from 800 billion to 1.8 trillion barrels and could provide a hundred years of domestic energy. Crapo noted those reserves alone could do much to relieve recent supply and demand issues causing the increase in the price of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Despite objections from members of Idaho’s delegation, Congress on Tuesday rejected President Bush’s veto of legislation protecting doctors from a 10.6 percent cut in their reimbursement rates when treating Medicare patients.

The override vote in the House was 383-41, easily meeting the two-thirds threshold needed to nullify the president’s veto. Idaho Congressman Bill Sali voted to uphold the President’s veto, while fellow Idaho Republican Mike Simpson voted to override it. About an hour later, the Senate voted to override, 70-26. Idaho Sen. Larry Craig voted against overriding the president’s veto, as did Sen. Mike Crapo.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

Lawmakers were under pressure from doctors and the elderly patients they serve to void the rate cut, which kicked in on July 1. The cut is based on a formula that establishes lower reimbursement rates when Medicare spending levels exceed established targets.

The president said he supported rescinding the pay cut, but he objected to the way lawmakers would finance the plan, largely by reducing spending on private health plans serving the elderly and disabled. (AP)