Sen. Mike Crapo addresses the community in Schuler Auditorium during a town hall meeting. (Nick Jacquot)
Sen. Mike Crapo, R – Idaho, held a town-hall meeting in Schuler Auditorium Sept. 1, where he gave his opinion on the cause and solution of the debt crisis.
“I don’t think the problem is that taxes are too low,” Crapo said. “I think the problem is that spending is too high.”
When asked about the economic crisis, Crapo said, “I don’t believe we will get this solved in one vote.”
“Although spending is the biggest part of our problem,we also have to grow our economy.”
He continually stated his support of a “pro-growth package and tax code reform.”
He said a pro-growth package would entail “tax reform, regulatory reform, litigation reform, and energy policy reform.”
Crapo said he did not support any increase in taxes but did support a flattening of the tax base.
“Our tax code is more unfair, more complex, more expensive to comply with and more anti-competitive to American business interests than we could possibly make it if we intended to develop it that way,” he said.
According to Project Vote Smart, a bipartisan nonprofit research group, Crapo was given a rating of 99 percent in 2010 by the National Taxpayers Union, which defines itself as “America’s independent, non-partisan advocate for overburdened taxpayers.”
He supported the National Small Business Association, a “volunteer-led association whose primary mission is to advocate state and federal policies that are beneficial to small business, the state, and the nation and promote the growth of free enterprise.”
According to Project Vote Smart, Crapo was given a rating of “F” by the National Education Association for 2009-2010.
Their mission is “to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.”
An NIC student asked about America’s infrastructure problem, in reference to the “D” grade that the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the U.S. on its infrastructure as a whole. He said the grade took into account aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, waste water, roads, hazardous waste, and energy, among other considerations.
According to the Civil Engineers, it would cost $2.2 trillion to bring national infrastructure to a safe level.
The student wanted to know in particular if the senator would support a plan like Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., proposed in response to the Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007.
The plan, referred to as the BUILD Act, called for a national infrastructure bank that would encourage private investment by providing loans.
Crapo said he would support the plan but in “a different form.” He listed infrastructure as a high priority, but said it was not a justification for “digging the hole deeper.”
The proposal, he said, “changes the formula under which the dollars for infrastructure are allocated to the states.”He asserted that the plan favored the more populated states.
Another question was why he voted to raise the debt ceiling. While he reiterated that he felt the plan was “inadequate,” he defended his vote, stating his belief that “all three credit rating agencies would have downgraded us.”
He concluded with an invitation to continue to contact him with concerns.
“Americans will battle through this problem,” he said.
