Sen. Mike Crapo (R) Elected 1998, 2d term up 2010
Born:	May 20, 1951, Idaho Falls
Home:	Idaho Falls
Education:	Brigham Young U., B.A. 1973, Harvard U., J.D. 1977
Religion:	Mormon
Marital Status:	married (Susan)
Elected  Office:	ID Senate, 1984-92, Senate Ldr., 1988-92; U.S. House of Reps., 1992-98.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1977-92.
DC Office	239 DSOB20510, 202-224-6142; Web site: crapo.senate.gov
State Offices	Boise, 208-334-1776; Caldwell, 208-455-0360; Coeur D'Alene, 208-664-5490; Idaho Falls, 208-522-9779; Lewiston, 208-743-1492; Pocatello, 208-236-6775; Twin Falls, 208-734-2515.
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Mike Crapo (pronounced CRAY-poe) is a Republican elected to the House in 1992 and the Senate in 1998. He grew up in Idaho Falls, graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard Law School, and is a faithful Mormon who was named a bishop in the church at 31. A former congressional intern, he was elected to the state Senate at 33 in 1984, two years after leukemia took his older brother Terry's life. Terry Crapo had been state House majority leader and a rising star in state politics; the two were close and Mike Crapo decided to follow in his brother's path to the legislature. He became state Senate leader in 1988 and ran for the House in 1992, campaigning against all tax increases, for spending cuts, a balanced budget amendment and the line-item veto--the Contract with America two years early. He won the primary 68%-32%. ''Cowboy Democrat'' J. D. Williams, the state controller, ran on a ''put America first'' stand on industrial policy and trade. Crapo won 61%-35%.

With a self-professed ''passion for reform,'' Crapo became Republican freshman class leader and championed institutional reforms--on discharge petitions, select committees, closed rules, closed committee meetings, open voting--many of which were adopted after Republicans won control in 1994. Like many Republicans, he favored simple, hard-and-fast rules--a balanced budget, term limits, across-the-board discretionary spending cuts (excluding Social Security)--to force tough decisions. He sponsored the deficit reduction lock box bill that passed the House in 1995; he served on Agriculture as it passed the Freedom To Farm Act. He was a founding member of the Congressional Water Caucus and a member of the fabled Congressional Boot Caucus, an informal group of Western lawmakers who wear boots; he is co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsman's Caucus and the Senate Nuclear Cleanup Caucus. His overall voting record has been very conservative, with some exceptions on economics. He opposed NAFTA in 1993 but supported PNTR with China in 2000. In 2002, he voted in favor of trade promotion authority. He has criticized many recent trade agreements for accepting limits on U.S. agricultural exports as leverage for opening up access for other products, but has said that negotiators did less of that at the WTO meetings in Seattle and Cancun.

In 1997 Crapo, who prides himself on returning to Idaho Falls to be with his family every weekend, faced a career choice that many House members would like to face. In September Governor Phil Batt announced his retirement and in October Senator Dirk Kempthorne said he would run for governor. Within days Crapo announced he would run for the Senate. His opponent was former Democratic chairman and Boise trial lawyer Bill Mauk. Idaho, one-quarter Mormon, had never elected a Mormon senator; this time it did. Crapo led in polls by a wide margin and won 70%-28%, carrying every county.

In his first years in the Senate, Crapo became chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the troubled Superfund program and many EPA programs. He worked on the farm bill in 2001 and 2002, and helped write the conservation provisions; he sought to free farmers taking part from complying with federal water standards. He was troubled with the bill's dairy provisions, which he said would take money away from Western producers and give it to Eastern dairies; Idaho has a growing dairy industry. He passed a bill providing $1 million for small Idaho communities to comply with federal water quality standards, and seeks to extend it to the whole nation. He sponsored the Senate version of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. He worked on changing the Endangered Species Act, and in November 2004 he produced a draft bill directing the Interior Secretary to set deadlines based on specific criteria. He promised to keep working on the issue, though he was leaving the Environment Committee in January 2005. "I am heartened by the consensus that ESA should produce more obvious benefits for species."

In the Senate and in working on issues in Idaho, Crapo has met with groups with very different views and has tried to forge consensus. "If you have collaborative decision-making, instead of creating a forum where people conflict, you have a table where people can create win-win solutions." Of Crapo, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden said, "He is not a showboat. He is somebody who day in and day out is always a constructive force for sensible public policy." He rounded up support from California and Oregon colleagues for a plan that would give Idaho funding for salmon recovery proportionate to that of the Pacific Coast states; when Idaho was left off a list of states eligible for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, he quickly got it put on. With Harry Reid of Nevada he got the Senate in June 2002 to pass unanimously a bill providing for continuous production of the American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin by having the Treasury replenish its silver supply on the open market. Blanks for coins are manufactured at Sunshine Minting Inc. in Coeur d'Alene and Idaho's Silver Valley mines produce $70 million of silver per year. Crapo opposed reintroduction of grizzly bears to the Bitterroot Mountains and breaching the Snake River dams and opposed spring drawdowns on lower Snake River dams; he wrote a bill to compensate businesses around the Dworshak Reservoir for summer drawdowns to help migrating salmon. He has worked to get compensation for downwinders, residents of four Idaho counties subjected to radiation from above-ground nuclear weapons tests in Nevada in the 1950s, and worked on the Snake River Water Rights Act, which was passed as part of the omnibus appropriation in November 2004.

From 2001 to 2004 he worked to forge a consensus on the Owyhee Canyonlands wilderness proposal with the Owyhee County Commissioners, landowners and cattlemen, environmental groups and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe. In November 2004, consensus resulted--199,000 acres formerly off limits would be opened to fence-building and pipelines, with independent review of BLM decisions; 517,000 acres would be set aside as wilderness and 384 miles of rivers would be protected, and open to hikers and boaters; the habitat of the California bighorn sheep and sage grouse would be protected. His Idaho colleague Larry Craig promised to steer it through his Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee in 2005.

On other issues, Crapo and Craig supported the DREAM Act, allowing young illegal aliens to earn temporary resident status by graduating from high school and enrolling in college. They both opposed a provision blocking disposal of radioactive sludge in cement containers at INEEL and the Savannah River Site; they said INEEL would not do any of this.

Crapo had expressed interest in a federal district judgeship but sought reelection in 2004; he had no Democratic opponent and won with 99% of the vote.

Committees

• Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry: Forestry, Conservation & Rural Revitalization (Chmn.); Research, Nutrition & General Legislation.
• Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs: Financial Institutions; International Trade & Finance (Chmn.); Securities & Investment.
• Budget.
• Finance: International Trade; Social Security & Family Policy; Taxation & IRS Oversight.
• Indian Affairs.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	10	11	0	0	83	66	94	92	95	100	--
2003	5	--	0	0	--	73	91	89	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	0%	--	82%		11%	--	84%
Social	0%	--	59%		0%	--	84%
Foreign	39%	--	54%		0%	--	67%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Ban Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. Energy Bill Y 6. Support Roe v. Wade N		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Assault Weapons Ban N  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Ban Bunker-Buster Bomb N 11. Fund Iraq War Y 12. Restrict Missile Defense N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Mike Crapo (R)	499,796	99%	$1,031,912
	Other	4,136	1%
2004 primary	Mike Crapo (R)	unopposed
1998 general	Mike Crapo (R)	262,966	70%	$1,563,811
	Bill Mauk (D)	107,375	28%	$241,443
	Other	7,833	2%
Prior winning percentages: 1996 House (69%); 1994 House (75%); 1992 House (61%)