United States Senator Mike Crapo - Idaho

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*A Christmas Lifeline to Rural Idaho Counties*

After a two-year
lapse, Congress finally passed my legislation, S. 356, to reauthorize
the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program.
This vital legislation will
restore funding to rural counties that steward large tracts of untaxed
federal lands.
President Trump signed the bill into law on December
18, 2025.

Passage of the bill comes on the heels of a bipartisan,
bicameral letter I led.
Eighty-eight additional lawmakers signed the
letter to U.S. House of Representatives leadership.
We underscored
the devastating impacts on rural counties absent funding from the SRS
program and called for passage of the bill before the end of the
year.
The Senate unanimously passed the bill in June 2025, and also
at the end of the previous Congress in December 2024.
Read *more
about the letter HERE* [link 1].

Thirty-four of Idaho's 44 counties
received SRS payments in 2023.
My bill, which became law on December
18, provides lapsed payments for Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025 and funds
the program through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2026.
The SRS
program is rooted in century-old federal land management policy and,
without it, many counties in Idaho and across the country would fall
short of the financial means to provide for integral community
functions for local residents and visitors alike.

Read more from
the *Idaho delegation here [link 2]*.



*A Missed Opportunity
for Real Health Care Reform*

As Chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, I joined Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
(HELP) Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, M.D., to introduce the *Health
Care Freedom for Patients Act* [link 3], which would lower health care
costs and give money directly to families to control their own care.
Our proposal was an alternative to extending temporary Obamacare COVID
bonuses, which send billions of tax dollars to giant insurance
companies without lowering insurance premiums.
With taxpayers footing
the bill, these subsidies give insurance companies every single reason
they need to keep hiking premiums.
An extension of this program will
do nothing to lower costs or premiums or protect
taxpayers.

Democrats blocked our proposal, which required 60 votes
to advance, by a vote of 51-48.

*CLICK HERE* [link 4]or the image
below to watch my speech on the Senate floor before the vote, urging
my colleagues to support the Health Care Freedom for Patients
Act.
You can read *excerpts of the speech HERE* [link 5].

You can
read or watch my speech earlier in the week on the *failures of
Obamacare HERE* [link 6].

Although this proposal failed, our work
is not done.
Health care costs are increasing for *all* Americans,
not just those on Obamacare, and I welcome bipartisan cooperation on
both short-term and long-term solutions.
For example, Senator Ron
Wyden (D-Oregon) and I recently re-introduced pharmacy benefit manager
(PBM) reform legislation, the *PBM Price Transparency and
Accountability Act* [link 7].
This bipartisan bill would fix market
distortions and increase transparency in federal prescription drug
programs to lower patient costs at the pharmacy counter.

It is
time to lay the groundwork for giving Americans more control over
their health care choices and truly making quality health care more
affordable.

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[link 8]



*Supporting America's Armed Forces*

On December
17, 2025, the U.S. Senate passed, by a vote of 77-20, the annual
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), fulfilling Congress's
constitutional duty to "provide for the common defense."

The FY
2026 NDAA includes a number of wins for Idaho and America.
It
provides our servicemembers a well-deserved pay raise and strengthens
operational readiness to defend against foreign adversaries at home
and abroad.
Read more about *this year's NDAA here* [link 9].


*Bringing Home Missing Servicemembers*

In October, Idaho welcomed
home 2nd Lt. Charles Atteberry following 80 years missing in action
after being killed in World War II.
Unfortunately, 359 Idahoans
remain unaccounted for from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold
War, the Gulf Wars and other conflicts.

*We cannot give up on our
efforts to identify and bring home every remaining missing
servicemember.*

I joined U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-New
Hampshire) to reintroduce the Bring Our Heroes Home Act that would
eliminate bureaucratic obstacles preventing families and caseworkers
from accessing records needed for recovery of America's prisoners of
war (POWs) and missing in action (MIA).

We owe their families and
loved ones the assurances they have not been forgotten.
Read more on
my *website HERE* [link 10]or in the *Idaho Capital Sun HERE* [link
11].

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Contact
Information:

Website:

Offices:
239 Dirksen Senate
Building
Washington D.C., 20510
Phone: (202) 224-6142

Idaho
Falls
410 Memorial Drive
Suite 205
Idaho Falls, ID 83402
Phone:
(208) 522-9779

Boise
251 East Front Street
Suite 205
Boise, ID
83702
Phone: (208) 334-1776

Lewiston
313 'D' Street
Suite 105
Lewiston, ID 83501
Phone: (208) 743-1492

Caldwell
524 East
Cleveland Blvd.
Suite 220
Caldwell, ID 83605
Phone: (208)
455-0360

Pocatello
275 South 5th Avenue
Suite 138
Pocatello,
ID 83201
Phone: (208) 236-6775

Coeur d' Alene
610 Hubbard
Street
Suite 209
Coeur d' Alene, ID 83814
Phone: (208) 664-5490
Twin Falls
202 Falls Avenue
Suite 2
Twin Falls, ID 83301
Phone:
(208) 734-2515

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